Jury duty

[Misanthropical]

I got a notice that I'm being summoned for jury duty. Oh joy! NOT! Of course, they spelled my name wrong, something I have pointed out and tried to get fixed with the voter registration place since we moved up here. It's Diana, not Diane! Of course, I don't really know my name and they would know better than I would what my name is. :rolleyes:

Yes, there is a Diane with my last name that lives in my state and no, I don't know her. I wonder if she gets annoyed when people spell her name as Diana? One of these days I might email her.

Anyway, I can't really do jury duty, since I have to be here for the little guy when he gets home from school, so I have to write out a letter and attach it to the notice to let them know it's a hardship.

There is no one else that can go get him for me and he would be all alone for at least 20 minutes till my other two get home. Sorry, not going to happen. My husband can't take off work just because I have jury duty either, so I have to phone and write in to let them know, or face being arrested and jailed for 10 days and pay a $500 fine.

What a pain in the behind! The last time I was summoned for jury duty, we were getting ready to move up here, which is 50 miles away from where I use to live and all I had to do then was call up and let them know and they told me I was excused.

Of course, my husband has never been summoned for jury duty the entire time we have lived in the state.

[dispatch]

Maybe they'll let you wait until summer or something, I know that's happened before here.

it's kinda wierd how some people get picked and some don't; my dad is just about 60 and he's never been summoned, but my brother, who has the same name as my father, received a summons two weeks after he turned 18

[flybye023]

I've also been called for jury duty...for the 2nd time. The first time I had a stable job that paid for me to be gone. I ended up on a trial that lasted 2 weeks, no problems there.

This time I was called last February. I still had a stable job, paid jury days, and a little money to spare. It was deferred until now. Now is definitely not a good time for me. I have been unemployed for 3 months during which time any spare money was used. I am working at a temp agency on an assignment that just started 3 weeks ago with a training program which is not completed and can't be made up. Also, since I just started I have no paid days or any vacation days to speak of. But wait, the court pays me $40 a day to be there. Yay.

I am really starting to get concerned because I just don't think I can afford the time off at this point, but I can't see any way out of this jury duty. All the exceptions don't seem to apply to me.:(

[Misanthropical]

Maybe they'll let you wait until summer or something, I know that's happened before here.

it's kinda wierd how some people get picked and some don't; my dad is just about 60 and he's never been summoned, but my brother, who has the same name as my father, received a summons two weeks after he turned 18

I couldn't do it even in the summer. I can't really leave my children alone all day and like I said already, my husband can't take off work just because the state wants me to serve jury duty.

[Ljt09863]

ive been called for jury duty once. i went to the courthouse, sat down in the room with all the other potential jury members, and watched the little movie they show everybody. as soon as the movie ended, the lady came back in and said,"well, we had three cases this week. one settled yesterday, the other two just settled. you are free to go home!"

we were all happy!

[BusBus]

Of course, my husband has never been summoned for jury duty the entire time we have lived in the state.

Myabe they heard that you had a flame thrower? Certainly would spice things up!

"Today, on our jury, we have a special guest: Diana, with her flame thrower of justice!"

Ok, time for me to go to bed.

-BB

[Crosshair]

Just say the word "Jury nullification" and they will have you dismissed quickly. They hate it when a juror tries to think on their own.

[MMATM]

I received a summons about six months after I turned 18. Of course the date they had set was right in the middle of the second week of the fall semester, so that wouldn't work. Got it deferred until winter break only to find out that my group # wasn't even called in on that day. And in MA the fine for not showing is *checks Reminder Notice (can you tell it was recent?)* "not more than $2000" but no jail time.

I don't suppose they'd be willing to excuse people just because there is no way for them to make it. That would make too much sense and obviously "Your Civic Duty" comes before keeping your job, taking care of your kids, etc.

[Crazyredhead]

My husband has finally been called for jury duty. He went last week. I have only been called once. They can't call me up anymore, I am a felon. I'm a baaaaad girl.

[Ljt09863]

They can't call me up anymore, I am a felon. I'm a baaaaad girl.


uh oh. i think Crazyredhead borrowed the flamethrower......

[blas]

I'd go and find out what the case is regarding.....you can always pretend to be a racist or a kid hater or biased against something. They don't want biased people on a jury ;).

Blas, who will find an excuse to get out of anything.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Homer: The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races.

[sportsmom]

I got called at the end of last school year, so I called the clerk's office to let them know that there is no way for me to sit on a jury then because I didn't have anyone to watch my 4yo and the woman actually told me "Childcare is not an excuse to get out of jury duty, they will not let you out of it for that."

Veterinarians and ferry drivers can automatically get out of jury duty in my state! I live in northern Indiana! Where the hell is there a ferry around here?!?!? Where the hell is there a ferry anywhere in the state if Indiana?!?!?!

Luckily, they called a week later to let me know that the case had been "Cancelled" whatever that means.

[Misanthropical]

sportsmom, you're kidding! Child care is the reason I'm typing a letter to them to let them know that I have to be here for my children!

I hope that is good enough, because I can't just very well have my three children be alone for hours.

My little guy would freak right out if I wasn't there to pick him up from school and he had to come home to an empty house! Heck, last time I was a bit late picking him up he was in tears wondering if I didn't want him anymore!

[Thrifty]

They can't call me up anymore, I am a felon.

So is my fiancee and he got a summons. Although when they find out he is a felon I don't believe he'll have to do the jury duty.

[sportsmom]

I wish I was. Just the thought that child care was not a reason to be exempt from jury duty was mind boggling to me. I'm sure that if I showed up with dd in tow, they would have let me out once I explained that I have no one to watch her during the day they would have let me out, but the woman actually told me that child care is no excuse to not show up for jury duty.

If that didn't work I would have then gone on to explain my belief that there are many more crimes that capital punishment is warranted for than it is currently applied to. Take running a red light for example. Run a red light and off with your head! :lol: I wonder if that would have worked. In VA where I am originally from, they might keep you around for that opinion. ;)

[protege]

Ah, jury duty. What a waste of time. Seriously. All we did was sit around and read magazines the first day--the entire day was spent picking people to sit in on various trials. Second day was more of the same--the case got dismissed, and we were free to leave. And yes, I was a bit pissed that I lost two days' pay over that, since the state "reimbursement" wasn't nearly enough.

[digilight]

I don't know how it is where you live, but here in my area they assign you a group number (1-99) and call specific groups of numbers each day. You call an automated number and it tells you which group numbers have to report the next day. For example, Monday always calls group number 1 only. The higher group number you're in the better a chance you won't get called at all.

We only do a one day wait or a trial. Meaning if they don't assign you to an actual trial on the day you are assigned to be there then you don't have to return.

I have talked to a client of mine who is a criminal defense attorney, and he said that Friday is the best day to go jury duty (least chance of getting placed on an actuall jury). They judges want to leave early, the attornys want to leave early, and they dont want to fiddle with it at the last minute on a friday.

Here if you group number is 80 or higher you are almost safe not to be called at all.

You are looking at dependant care issues for your reason to be excused from service. Different locals will have different requirements and reasons you can be excused but dependant care issues should be a dead lock. Normally you need to send the letter in requesting to be excused prior to sitting on a jury. Make sure that you note the age of the child (if young) and any and all problems with the child. I believe My sons ADHD would probably help warrent an excuse, simply for the fact that he wouldn't be able to handle being left alone as well, (not true, but you can play cards like that if needed).

Good luck.

[Cia]

99 groups for jury duty? Holy crap! The highest Pennington County goes is 5.

[Tanasi]

When I was on Federal jury duty there was no excuse good enough you either served or went to federal jail. It was fun.
When I was 19 I was summoned for jury duty, well I didn't respond and there was a bench warrent issued for my arrest. A few years later I was at the court house renewing my DL and there was a flag and the county sherrif himself actually arrested me and I was booked into the lockup. The judge wanted to know my excuse and I told him I was in the Army and was out of county in RVN and for some reason President Nixon and General Westmoreland didn't think it was importent enough to give me leave. Do you have proof? My dad (a childhood friend of the judge) presented my DD214 showing my dates of service. Case dismissed and thank you for your service.
Now my Dad liked getting called for jury duty and would actually hang around the court house trying to get called up when they were short of folks.

[Rapscallion]

Oddly enough, in ancient Greece, there were people who managed to make a living out of being jurors. Memory tells me they got three obols a day for this.

Rapscallion

[Crosshair]

They can't call me up anymore, I am a felon.
The problem with that is so many things are felonies now that it has really lost it's meaning. The "Felony" designation used to be reserved for the really bad crimes but nowadays it is used for stuff that really should not have that term attached to it.

One of the best definitions of the "true" meaning of "Felony" I have found is, "If would be justified to shoot you while you are doing it, it's a Felony." If this was used to define the term "Felony" I think we would be better off because then we would know who the bad people are instead of having to go further and find out what they did.

[flybye023]

:highfive:I just called in on the number we were given to check in the night before and I don't have to go!! "Panel #1 has been dismissed and we are not rescheduling." :party:

I'm soooo relieved 'cause I really didn't have the money to do this right now.:)

[HYHYBT]

The last time I was called was fun. Got there and the'd cancelled and were issuing checks for those of us who's bothered to show up and warrants for those who hadn't :) So I got paid a day's jury duty for driving to Jefferson and standing in line ten minutes, then got to spend the rest of the day like I hadn't been called.

[Primer]

Around here, if you are a college student, you can be exempted, but if you are a college instructor, you cannot. :confused: It's not ok for one student to miss one day of classes, but it IS ok for the teacher to cause 30 to 150 students to miss a day of classes.

Oh well..at least last year when I got called, it was when my classes were not meeting (I'm the teacher).

[reformedwaitress]

I'm a weird one. I LIKE jury duty. Mainly because I really really want to be on a jury -- always have. But, of course, I never get picked. Cause I worked in a law firm for three and a half years starting at 19 and now work in one again. And let me tell you, in any case one of the two sides won't want people with that thorough of an understanding of the law on their jury. Someone's gonna be praying for the jury to not care about what the law says. :roll:

[Broomjockey]

Someone's gonna be praying for the jury to not care about what the law says. :roll:

Yeah, but if those people win, it BECOMES law! Gotta love precident.

[reformedwaitress]

Yeah, but if those people win, it BECOMES law! Gotta love precident.

That's what appeals are for. And precident isn't as hard to overcome as one might think. A lot of law has become, whether we like it or not, judging the circumstances more than determining if, by the "letter of the law", what so and so did was wrong. It's why we have battered women clauses and precident and such.

*shrug*

It's the way it works. But I won't get into whether or system works or not. That's a COMPLETELY different soapbox.

[Sphinx]

I've always wanted to get jury duty but never have....go figure:rolleyes:

[digilight]

RW - My mom worked for the Public Defenders office about 30 or so years ago (only for a short time maybe a couple of years tops) she has never once been called for jury duty. We have no idea why either, I have a client who is a Criminal Defense Attorney and he was just called a few weeks ago for jury duty. My dad on the other hand was called almost every year until he got a perminant excuse from it due to medical reasons.

As far as getting picked to be on a jury, I was picked about 8 years ago. It was a case under californias violent sexual preditors act. Basically this act stats that after the prisoner serves his time, he/she can be kept under in a phsyciatric facility (Mental hospital/prison) for 2 years at a time, after 2 years they have to go thru the trial process again for release. Our guy was a real bad nut, we did not releas him. About 4 years later he was released, and that scared the crap out of me. Considering he had been convicted of murder of a police officer, escape from prison, rape, sodomy, raped a mother in front of her daughter, etc. I was so relieved when he died about 8 months after he was released from prison (he had gotten in trouble with the law a few times after his realse too, minor stuff though). but the whole trial was boring as snot.

[Jester]

For whatever reason, I had never been called for jury duty, until this last October I finally got summoned. I was a little bit excited by the idea as I read a lot of true crime, but I really didn't want to get picked for anything lengthy as one of our biggest events of the year was coming up fast.

Luckily for me, the hotel pays for jury duty, so I got two days off paid, and the hotel pays a lot better than the court system! (They summon you for two days here, apparently, not sure why).

So, me being the civic-minded person that I am, I show up in a shirt and tie. And I was the ONLY person in the courthouse in a tie who was not an attorney, judge, plaintiff, or defendant! (Many people stopped me to ask me questions about where this or that was, assuming I was a lawyer!)

The way they work it here is that they gather you all in one big courtroom, swear you in, blah blah blah, then you get assigned to a jury pool for a particular trial, and from the pool they select a jury. In my case, the jury would be six people plus one alternate, and there were about 30-40 of us in the pool. My trial was a medical malpractice suit, and one qualifying question the plaintiff's lawyer asked was if we, anyone we knew, or anyone we were related to were in the health care field. When they asked me that, I told them, quite truthfully, that I have a friend who works in the ER as an administrator, I am friends with two local doctors, and I have seven cousins who are doctors.

After all the qualifying questions, all the principals retired to the judge's chambers to decide who to keep and who to strike. Many of the folks in the jury pool were convinced that I was on the jury. This one girl in particular insisted that I would be on it, and I told her, if they selected her and not me, I would laugh my silly little ass off. Well, the principals came out, and started announcing the jurors, and sure enough, she was selected and I wasn't. She wouldn't even look at me after that. I laughed my silly little tie-wearing ass off!

Found out later from the defense attorney, who I ran into, that the plaintiff struck me. I am guessing the "seven cousins who are doctors" probably had a little something to do with it!

And the best part was, this all happened on day one, and so I had day two off....with pay. :D

Personally, I like George Carlin's take on jury duty. "Everyone lies to get out of jury duty. Don't lie. Tell the truth! Say, 'Your Honor, I would make a great juror, because I can spot a guilty person just like that!' You'll be out of there in no time!"
:lol:

[Misanthropical]

I got a notice today that I have been officially excused from jury duty! :muya:

[Caveat Emptor]

My mother told the court in 1974 that she had two young children (I was less than 1 y/o at the time). She was excused, and next got a notice for jury duty....

twenty years later :wave:

I was last notified in late 2000, had to call an automated number and listen to this reaaaaaaaaalllly annoying voice (goood aaaafternooon, laaaadies and gentlemaaannnnn......) My number was not called.

[Bella_Vixen]

Personally, I like George Carlin's take on jury duty. "Everyone lies to get out of jury duty. Don't lie. Tell the truth! Say, 'Your Honor, I would make a great juror, because I can spot a guilty person just like that!' You'll be out of there in no time!"
:lol:


Or be with Homer Simpson and say that you are prejudiced against everyone to get out of jury duty.

[Becks]

Or be with Homer Simpson and say that you are prejudiced against everyone to get out of jury duty.

:spew: I wonder if that really works...

[powerboy]

I got summoned for the 3rd time. First two times, I didn't have to serve, it got cancelled. Now, I have a feeling that I am going to have to serve. Do they do check ups, on everyone that does not serve? I mean, if they said something that got them excused? I am thinking about lying, but I do not want to get caught

[HYHYBT]

If you don't want to get caught lying, tell the truth! If they pick you it'll hardly be the end of the world. Might even be interesting.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I would love to do jury duty, just because I think it would be interesting to go and actually see the inside of a courtroom for once...but I know they'd ask me some question to get me disqualified because I'd answer it truthfully.

"Your honor, I think doctors, and the very vast majority of lawyers and police officers are corrupt, ruthless, and out to get the average joe. I think they live each and every day looking for ways to screw other people over just to get their jollies. Further, I think just about everyone else on this planet is probably a glue-sniffing moron who is too stupid to realize that the people in charge are out to get them. Even further, I think we are far too lenient with who we apply our death penalty to and I think we are far too kind in the methods of death we inflict when we do use it."

...somehow, I don't think I'm ever going to get chosen for one...

(No offense to any doctors, lawyers, or police officers here...I realize there are the rare exceptions who are good, kind, decent, intelligent people. I've just never met any of them.)

[RapidPad0]

Oh jesus I just got my first summons today. I had to defer it to after I graduate. What a terrible awful time for jury duty, I live 2 hours away from home and I'm going to be moving even further away after I graduate. Can moving/distance be an excuse to not have to serve?

[HYHYBT]

It depends, I imagine, on the court and how far you've moved. I got a summons once from Clarke County but didn't have to go because I don't live there. How I got drawn in the first place is a mystery since I've never been registered there.

[Misanthropical]

Oh jesus I just got my first summons today. I had to defer it to after I graduate. What a terrible awful time for jury duty, I live 2 hours away from home and I'm going to be moving even further away after I graduate. Can moving/distance be an excuse to not have to serve?

I got a summons in our neighborhood just as we were moving to where we are now. I called and told them I was moving over an hour away and they excused me.