i just got a jury summons

[looneybin]

Have you ever served on a jury?
This is the second time i've received a jury summons, but the first time i wasted the ENTIRE day sitting in the jury room & was never selected to sit on a jury.

Does anybody have a sure fire way to be released from duty?
I'm not a police officer, so that angle won't work.

Maybe i can get a "white power" tatoo on my neck

I've heard if you bring a bible with you, they will think you are some kind of right wing bible thumper & send you home almost immediately, but i guess if that worked, everyone would do it.

I don't want to hear about the 'civic responsibility' thing, i have voted in EVERY election since i turned 18 (25 years ago) i just don't have the time to waste a day sitting on my a$$, or worse, getting selected for some long trial.

I'm self employed & if i don't work, i don't eat

any suggestions?

[Christien]

Agreed, it can be a huge waste of time, esp. if you're not selected. I believe around here there's an exemption for self-employed people, for exactly the reason you mentioned. Might not be the same in CA though.

[Danny_Ocean]

Trekkie uniform...worked for this guy...err...girl:

[mattdavis11]

Getting a felony does the trick everytime, but then you won't get to vote anymore.

The attorney in the family and I'll have to discuss the case, guns and booze mix, I'm against the death penalty (depending on state), drinking on the job is alright, "who are we going to fry today" might work.

Just a few thoughts.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Danny_Ocean

Trekkie uniform...worked for this guy...err...girl:

Hmm, i'm surprised they let the cadet into the building with the phaser...

BTW, i'm sure a healthy dose of irreverence for the process can only hurt your chances of being selected.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

tell them you are prejudiced against all people

[126coupe]

I have sat on 2 juries, Murder, Drunk Driving. I seem to always get picked.
The last 2 summons I ignored, Have you ever heard of someone being arrested for skipping Jury juty? I have not.
The jury system sucks, OJ?? We need private jury systems.
Their are plenty of people on handouts that have plenty of time to be jurors

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Minkoff

I have sat on 2 juries, Murder, Drunk Driving. I seem to always get picked.
The last 2 summons I ignored, Have you ever heard of someone being arrested for skipping Jury juty? I have not.
The jury system sucks, OJ?? We need private jury systems.
Their are plenty of people on handouts that have plenty of time to be jurors

I had jury duty in Fed. Court in Alexandria, VA, aka the rocket docket. This judge most definitely sent U.S. Marshals out to haul in those who blew off jury duty. He helped write the law in VA that EVERYONE is eligible for jury duty. The only exception, which he opposed, is the governor, since the governor could be petitioned for a pardon. Blow off jury duty in this guy's court and I can guarantee you'll be arrested. Man, he was hardcore.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by looneybin

I'm self employed & if i don't work, i don't eat

There is your answer. At the beginning of the jury selection process, the judge will ask jurors for reasons they should not be selected. Tell them that you are self employed, and that a trial of more than a week would be a disaster for you financially. The judge may say that no 'hardship' situations will be considered, but I didn't see one juror who raised this objection get selected.

That being said, despite your situation, its still you civic responsibility.

[Dantilla]

I served on a jury once, and had fun with it.

When we were sent back for deliberations, I got myself elected jury foreman in about 90 seconds. After 15-20 minutes, everybody agreed with me. We got to go home early.

Them came the fun part- The defense attorney (a real prick) asked if any jurors would stay and answer a couple questions. Gladly!

After everybody else left the courtroom, there was just me, along with both prosecuting and defense attorneys. I spent the next 45 minutes critiquing both of their performances, and raked both of them over the coals. I was very hard on them (they deserved it!), and they were both appriciative! Said they hadn't had such good feedback since leaving law school.

[Rick Lee]

When we went through the whole routine about why some of us shouldn't have to serve, not one person got out of it. One guy had just come from dropping his wife off at the hospital for back surgery and she was to be completely bed-ridden for weeks afterwards with no one but her husband to care for her. Too bad. Judge didn't want to hear it.

This was a federal RICO case on an MS-13 murder. First question to the 80 potential jurors was: Do any of you know someone who works for the FBI? Half the room stood up.

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by looneybin

Does anybody have a sure fire way to be released from duty?

Be a Jr.

I have never been and my Dad gets called "twice as often as anyone he knows!"

As long as a warm body with the same name shows up - they don't care..

[Mo_Gearhead]

Every time this subject comes up I respond the same way.

Trial by a 'jury of your peers' is a nice slogan that fails in practice.

If you are ever in a situation where YOU are on trial, you will HOPE that the judge has been able to get a good cross-section of your community, with a jury of intelligent/thinking individuals. And NOT 9/12 people that were 'not smart enough'
to dodge their civic duty.

[Chris'85]

I have served on two juries, one in CA and the other in NC. Even though it may seem like a waste of time use it as a social learning experience. I can be very interesting.

[Rick Lee]

When I was called, I already knew all about the case from reading the Wash. Post and the fact that I work in the news business. I didn't learn much from the experience except that I never ever want to go through it again. The defendant was 21 yrs. old, guilty as sin and looking at the lethal injection in a court and state that really means business. I was last one seated and then kicked off. I read a few days later that the defendant cut a deal to save his life, pleaded guilty and will spend the rest of his sexually active years in a place, where if you're good, you get to work in a laundromat or make license plates. Life without parole there is just that.

[looneybin]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

There is your answer. At the beginning of the jury selection process, the judge will ask jurors for reasons they should not be selected. Tell them that you are self employed, and that a trial of more than a week would be a disaster for you financially. The judge may say that no 'hardship' situations will be considered, but I didn't see one juror who raised this objection get selected.

That being said, despite your situation, its still you civic responsibility.

The jury summons indicates that the ONLY reasons to be excused are:

If you are a police officer.
If you have been convicted of a felony.
If you have served on a grand jury.
If you have served on a jury in the last year.
If you are a minor.
If you don't speak english.

It specifically states that self employment is NOT a valid excuse.
So i may have to live on the whopping $15 p/ day that it pays.
I guess thats big bucks to some welfare junkie with nothing else productive to do.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by looneybin

The jury summons indicates that the ONLY reasons to be excused are:

If you are a police officer.
If you have been convicted of a felony.
If you have served on a grand jury.
If you have served on a jury in the last year.
If you are a minor.
If you don't speak english.

It specifically states that self employment is NOT a valid excuse.
So i may have to live on the whopping $15 p/ day that it pays.
I guess thats big bucks to some welfare junkie with nothing else productive to do.

Of course it says that. Otherwise every contractor, doctor, consultant, etc wouldn't even show up.

I guess it depends on the judge, but every person who raised their had and told the judge they were a non salaried solo wage earner was gone after the first round in the trial I had this spring.

[sammyg2]

Civic duty.

oops.

[Porschephile944]

If you can try to postpone it till January 2nd. Worked great for me, Yes I did have to spend half the day sitting around doing nothing, but they let us leave early once they realized that all the "cases" they had were settled out of court that day.

[anotherblack944]

You can postpone the summons but there's pretty much no alternative. I've been summoned 4 times, served twice (first two) and foreman. The first two were while I was a student so it was no problem taking time. I too found it interesting but it did taint my view of mankind at a young age and reinforced a general distaste of lawyers... since compounded to politicians.. maybe that's a redundant statement? Anyhow..

Having to appear, sit and endure the semi-random first-cut is the worst part but that's usually just a 1/2 day here! Once you get to the actual selection process, my experience taught me that if, during the voir dire you, answer intelligently you will more than likely be dismissed. 99% of the attorneys do NOT want intelligent jurors (confirmed by an insurance lobbyist that my GF worked for after the fact). If you consider what the question is really looking for you will see the right answer (either way). Has worked ever since and that was by answering truthfully!