Jury Pool from the Roster of the Unemployed

I just got off the phone with a friend who felt fortunate that she got off a jury duty panel that could have lasted for the entire month of October. It was a sentencing trial for a man who murdered two women. He'd already been convicted, the jury was just going to decide whether he should get life in prison without the chance of parole, or the death penalty.
I always thought it was the judge who decided what the sentence should be, but in this case, it sounded like it was going to be a whole other trial. My friend and I thought it sounded like a big fat waste of tax money. Then we exchanged other stories about jury duty. I told her how I got off of a panel because the man who was on trial was there because he had sold drugs. I told the DA that I think drugs should be decriminalized, and I was asked to leave the panel.
I think we should have a professional jury system. People who are trained in objective thinking, who understand medical terms and technical vocabulary and investigatory skills. I think it would not only be cheaper in the long run, but as far as our justice system goes, we would have better outcomes. My idea will never happen. But her idea could. Her idea is to have people who are on unemployment be the ones who are on the jury panels. They are already getting a check from the state, their available, so why not? It's a really good idea.