Jury Duty

[sam_gordon]

My auto insurance company allowed you to pick which zip code I insured my kids cars in, home or college. My kids came home a lot on weekends, so it worked out to 180 days away at college, so just five days under half a year.

Check your math. It would be 2 1/2 days shy of "half a year" (365/2 = 182.5). So all it would take is one weekend staying at school, and it would be half a year.

And of course, you're taking YOUR situation and assuming it applies to everyone else.
First, you don't know what their school calendar is.
Second, you don't know how often they come home.

 

[tvguy]

Check your math. It would be 2 1/2 days shy of "half a year" (365/2 = 182.5). So all it would take is one weekend staying at school, and it would be half a year.

And of course, you're taking YOUR situation and assuming it applies to everyone else.
First, you don't know what their school calendar is.
Second, you don't know how often they come home.

LOL. We don't know for sure. Many Colleges now have classes on Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday only. No class on Fridays, Fridays begin reserved for classes that have labs. Just depends if the student stays at school when they aren't in class.

 

[Donalddidwhat…?!]

I got a notice for jury duty the other day. I am fine going on the day I am scheduled, which is a Tuesday. I am also okay to serve on Wed, if I get picked for a trial. The problem is that I leave for vacation on Thurs. If I got to the point where I get picked, I believe they ask for anyone to go up and talk to the judge if they have an excuse as to why they can't be placed on a jury. Then I would be excused and I believe I would have fulfilled my duty and can't get picked for another 3 or 4 years.

Would you do that or reschedule? I believe I can change the date but I want to get it out of the way and if it I get picked for a one or two day trial I am fine with that. I just can't do longer.

I’ve been called for jury duty many times over the years, and have never qualified for any of the usual exemptions. Years ago, it seemed like I was bein’ called every 6 months…!!!
I actually had to serve once, but more on that in a bit.
I usually got out of it because I have a good friend and a BIL who are/were law enforcement officers, and my wife’s cousin was the assistant DA in our county…!!!!!
The last time I was called, it conflicted with our family Disney trip last October, so I was able to reschedule. I was told they would send me another summons confirming the new date, but they never did.
I got pulled over not all that long ago for a taillight out, and there was no warrant for my arrest…apparently, it got lost in the mix.
The one time I did end up serving was many years ago, was a fluke, and it lasted an entire week. It was a DWI/DUI case and we ended up voting to convict.
I, by chance, ended up riding down from the courtroom with the defendants lawyer in the elevator after the trial.
I asked him how I got picked, because I knew cops and had a DWI years ago myself. He told me they had indeed eliminated me as a potential juror, but a lady they were gonna’ choose was talkin’ about the case out in the hallway, so was eliminated and fined, and I was the next choice…lucky me…!!!!!
I also asked the lawyer if he thought we made the right call and he said “Yea, he’d (his client) been drinkin’ all day.” …!!!!!
Sorry for the long story, but it brought back memories…!!!
Bottom line, call and reschedule (although that wasn’t an option back in the day), as even what seems like an insignificant case could easily last longer than a coupla’ days.

 

[mjkacmom]

She is there about 8 months out of the year. I’m not sure where the courthouse is, she doesn’t have a car (too expensive to park).

 

[_19disnA]

There is another recent thread discussing jury duty as well. I think the rules/selection process must vary by county/state. I have only been called one time when I lived in a different state. Thought the whole process was hugely inefficient and wasted a lot of people's time. We all sat in a large waiting area and then some administrative person came in to explain how it all worked and what an important job we were doing. They chose a few people for some of the cases that were going on. The rest of us sat around doing nothing until later in the day when they said we could leave and our commitment was over. While I understand the intent to randomly choose people, it seems like the entire process could be setup to be way more efficient for everyone involved.

You can call and reschedule but you can't just say 'I'm busy and don't want to participate'. Apparently how they enforce the rules vary by state as well. I would not wait until you get selected to make an excuse about your vacation. I would let the clerk know that long before you are there in person and simply reschedule you for another time.

 

[gmi3804]

@anniemae Is the vacation to Disney? With the way it's been lately, I might prefer serving on a jury!

 

[PollyannaMom]

I got a notice for jury duty the other day. I am fine going on the day I am scheduled, which is a Tuesday. I am also okay to serve on Wed, if I get picked for a trial. The problem is that I leave for vacation on Thurs. If I got to the point where I get picked, I believe they ask for anyone to go up and talk to the judge if they have an excuse as to why they can't be placed on a jury. Then I would be excused and I believe I would have fulfilled my duty and can't get picked for another 3 or 4 years.

Would you do that or reschedule? I believe I can change the date but I want to get it out of the way and if it I get picked for a one or two day trial I am fine with that. I just can't do longer.

If I hadn't rescheduled yet, I probably would move it. I'm notoriously stressed and busy just before a vacation, and I would not want one more thing to worry about.

Buuuut, I was let out of jury duty once in a similar situation. I went on my scheduled day, knowing the paperwork said most trials were only 1-2 days, but the one I got picked for was expected to last 3-5, and the judge asked if that would change anyone's availability. I had an important appointment on the 4th day, so he excused me.

 

[sam_gordon]

If I hadn't rescheduled yet, I probably would move it. I'm notoriously stressed and busy just before a vacation, and I would not want one more thing to worry about.

Buuuut, I was let out of jury duty once in a similar situation. I went on my scheduled day, knowing the paperwork said most trials were only 1-2 days, but the one I got picked for was expected to last 3-5, and the judge asked if that would change anyone's availability. I had an important appointment on the 4th day, so he excused me.

If you have any documentation showing you have a vacation (plane tickets, hotel reservations, etc), I would still ask for a postponement. The worst they can say is "no".

 

[tvguy]

There is another recent thread discussing jury duty as well. I think the rules/selection process must vary by county/state. I have only been called one time when I lived in a different state. Thought the whole process was hugely inefficient and wasted a lot of people's time. We all sat in a large waiting area and then some administrative person came in to explain how it all worked and what an important job we were doing. They chose a few people for some of the cases that were going on. The rest of us sat around doing nothing until later in the day when they said we could leave and our commitment was over. While I understand the intent to randomly choose people, it seems like the entire process could be setup to be way more efficient for everyone involved.

You can call and reschedule but you can't just say 'I'm busy and don't want to participate'. Apparently how they enforce the rules vary by state as well. I would not wait until you get selected to make an excuse about your vacation. I would let the clerk know that long before you are there in person and simply reschedule you for another time.

Saw an interview with a Judge once that kind of summed it up well. "If you are the type of Juror the attorneys want, they will make it hard for the Judge to dismiss you except in the case of extreme hardship".
My first jury duty, I knew the Plaintiff's attorney, he was at my wedding, my MIL was the office manager at his previous firm. I disclosed it, and one of the two defense attorneys did ask if I could be impartial, and when I said yes that ended it. I was in the first 12 called up, and the only one of those 12 to be seated. And they went through 50+ other people to fill those 11 other seats and 3 alternates.
We even had two Attorneys on our jury, although they both worked for public agencies, not private practice and did not have anything to do with criminal or civil litigation in their jobs. And when we got into the Jury Deliberation room, they were the two we had the most trouble accepting what the Judge said the laws were that applied to our case. They felt the Judge got it wrong, but did finally realize that both the Plaintiff and Defense Attorneys had signed off on the Judge's instructions as being correct.

 

[Skippy918]

I’ve only gotten called once (knock on wood) where I currently live and I’ve lived here 20 years.
I was called for grand jury. Thank goodness there were enough people in the pool who volunteered. It would have been 3 half days each week for 3 months. That’s impossible when working full time.

My former home state called me for jury duty after I had already relocated and been living in my current city for 15+ years. They finally took me off their jury duty list.

 

[dcassetta]

There is another recent thread discussing jury duty as well. I think the rules/selection process must vary by county/state. I have only been called one time when I lived in a different state. Thought the whole process was hugely inefficient and wasted a lot of people's time. We all sat in a large waiting area and then some administrative person came in to explain how it all worked and what an important job we were doing. They chose a few people for some of the cases that were going on. The rest of us sat around doing nothing until later in the day when they said we could leave and our commitment was over. While I understand the intent to randomly choose people, it seems like the entire process could be setup to be way more efficient for everyone involved.

You can call and reschedule but you can't just say 'I'm busy and don't want to participate'. Apparently how they enforce the rules vary by state as well. I would not wait until you get selected to make an excuse about your vacation. I would let the clerk know that long before you are there in person and simply reschedule you for another time.

Part of the challenge is that they may not know exactly how many jurors they will need.

I served on a jury where they originally called 60 of us from the main pool. That was not enough to get us to 12 plus alternates due to a variety of factors. So, more people had to be called from the main pool later in the afternoon.

 

[tvguy]

Part of the challenge is that they may not know exactly how many jurors they will need.

I served on a jury where they originally called 60 of us from the main pool. That was not enough to get us to 12 plus alternates due to a variety of factors. So, more people had to be called from the main pool later in the afternoon.

And as the cliche goes....."The Wheels of Justice Roll Slowly". One of the first things someone said when we started deliberations was that the JURY needed their own lawyer to OBJECT to objections raised. The worst was when an attorney would object to a question because it "lacked foundation". The other attorney would then spend the next 30 minutes asking unnecessary questions to "lay the foundation" to ask the question that sparked the objection. To use the legal term....."the jury stipulates to foundation having been laid". Our case went 6 1/2 weeks and we could have cut at least two weeks off the case if the lack of foundation objections had been eliminated.

 

[jimmymc]

I would try to reschedule it now. You might get lucky and they cancel it.