[Tobra]

The way they draft juries in California is a bit whack.

They use driver's license info, but there are a LOT of people with driver's licenses that are not here legally, so that is an issue. If you are self employed, like me, you are taking an unpaid vacation that is at a minimum two weeks. You are sort of on call for that long, and don't know if you are going to have to go down there or not. There is a box on the form that is about 1/4 inch to give a detailed explanation if you want to get out of jury duty. That sounds like too small a box to write your response, but it is plenty big enough. They don't even look at those requests at all. They assume everyone takes at least a few weeks vacation, so you can spend that time on jury duty. I had an attorney give me the straight of it. You tell them you take vacation every year and can serve your jury duty then. You take vacation for the last two weeks of December. The courts are all closed for the last two weeks of December.

I know what you are thinking, that is horrible, jury duty is a sacred responsibility. That may be so. I already give them far more money than they should get. Not giving them time.