Jury duty question

[Pigeon]

I just got a summons today for the dreaded jury duty. The summons is the usual "one week or one trial." What's weird about this one, is that the start date is on Feb. 20, a Tuesday. I suspect that's because the Monday is President's Day.

Has anybody else had jury duty on a week with a holiday? Does that mean that my week will run through the following Monday or did I luck out and get a short week?

I'll call the juror's number on Monday and get the info from the horse's mouth, but I wondered if any DISers had faced this before.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

I just got a summons today for the dreaded jury duty. The summons is the usual "one week or one trial." What's weird about this one, is that the start date is on Feb. 20, a Tuesday. I suspect that's because the Monday is President's Day.

Has anybody else had jury duty on a week with a holiday? Does that mean that my week will run through the following Monday or did I luck out and get a short week?

I'll call the juror's number on Monday and get the info from the horse's mouth, but I wondered if any DISers had faced this before.

I have to report on Tuesday February 13th - call the night before to see if I have to actually have to go. I have gotten picked every 3 years since I turned 18 while DH has only gotten picked once! Oh, well, picking out a book to bring

 

[believe]

Feel lucky...in Kentucky you serve for 3 months, the only day you can count on not going in is on Mondays. No cases happen on Mondays in KY.

 

[thebrain]

It depends on what state you live in, but even usually, even if the jury notice said you are only on call for one week, if you are needed for a trial that starts later in the week and it goes for two weeks, you are on call for it. When you are interviewed for a particular jury trial, called voir dire, you will be asked if there is a reason why you can't serve the entire period of the trial. If you have a valid excuse, i.e., nonrefundable plane tickets to WDW is a good excuse in my book, you may be excused. Otherwise, hang in there - most people are pleasantly surprised how much fun it is.

And, jury trials can start any day of the week depending on the staffing and rooms available, and of course, the particular habits of the trial judge. I know one (now retired judge) who always chose his jury on Friday and started the actual trial on Monday.

Good luck.

 

[rigs32]

Feel lucky...in Kentucky you serve for 3 months, the only day you can count on not going in is on Mondays. No cases happen on Mondays in KY.

Are you sure that's not *grand jury* duty? They often sit for a lot longer. How could an entire state expect people to be away from their jobs for 3 months?

 

[barkley]

cripes-here with the exception of a one time 6 month 'extention' (when you get the notice you can request to be deferred up to 6 months)-it can take an act of god to get excused from jury duty. the last time i was called (but not picked) the judge gave a speech about how there was the one time 6 month extention and if a person had an issue when the recived the notice they should have used that to ensure that when they were recalled in 6 months NOTHING would prevent them from serving (and he accepted none of the excuses any of the prospective jurers put forth to him).

i had one friend who was self employed and the primary source of income for his family-he implored the judge to excuse him or reassign him for consideration for another trial when he learned that he was looking at a murder trial with 2 defendants being tried together that was expected to last a minimum of 6 months. judge would'nt hear of it-he was picked and the trial lasted for almost a year (with very few 'on call' days for the jury-though they did spend many days where they entered the courtroom only to be sent out while the lawyers argued motions-and they just sat doing nothing for the rest of the day). it was horrendous-he did'nt lose his buisness, but it took years to recover from the losses.

 

[lfeikert]

Are you sure that's not *grand jury* duty? They often sit for a lot longer. How could an entire state expect people to be away from their jobs for 3 months?

I don't know about KY, but here in Ohio it's usually three months at a time, too. However, you don't report for three solid months. For example, I got my letter in January telling me that I could be called for the next three months. If they need a jury, they send us a letter and tells us what the date is. We are to call the night before the date to see if we have to report or not. I had to call once in January, but no jury was needed. I just got notice the other day that I am scheduled to report on March 1st so I have to call on February 28th to see if a jury is still needed. It is county court, not grand jury.

Funny, I guess I always assumed it was the same process everywhere, but I guess it can vary alot state by state!

 

[John VN]

I just got a summons today for the dreaded jury duty. The summons is the usual "one week or one trial." What's weird about this one, is that the start date is on Feb. 20, a Tuesday. I suspect that's because the Monday is President's Day.

Has anybody else had jury duty on a week with a holiday? Does that mean that my week will run through the following Monday or did I luck out and get a short week? In my case my week was for only 4 days because of the holiday on a Monday.

I'll call the juror's number on Monday and get the info from the horse's mouth, but I wondered if any DISers had faced this before.

Good luck.

 

[MushyMushy]

i had one friend who was self employed and the primary source of income for his family-he implored the judge to excuse him or reassign him for consideration for another trial when he learned that he was looking at a murder trial with 2 defendants being tried together that was expected to last a minimum of 6 months. judge would'nt hear of it-he was picked and the trial lasted for almost a year (with very few 'on call' days for the jury-though they did spend many days where they entered the courtroom only to be sent out while the lawyers argued motions-and they just sat doing nothing for the rest of the day). it was horrendous-he did'nt lose his buisness, but it took years to recover from the losses.

That's terrible!

I've never been called for jury duty and I'm glad, although I wouldn't have a problem doing it. I remember I once had a boss who really wanted to get called. She kept looking and looking for her name in the paper for that notice to come and when it finally did, it was one of our busy times at work and they let her off for it. And it's not like in your friend's case where he was irreplaceable! We could have had a district manager come in and take her place.