Jury Duty

[skyblue17]

Bumping this old thread because here I sit on jury duty again lol. I think it’s my 4 th time in 6 years. Just sitting here in the freezing jury pool room for almost 8 hours but they keep saying they may need us. So we sit Jury duty wouldn’t be so bad if you actually got to do something.

An upside to actually being put on a case is that you don't get called for standby again for quite awhile. I was on a jury in 2014 so I think I'm actually eligible again soon. I've yet to go to jury duty in person and NOT be put on a case.

 

[wgeo]

An upside to actually being put on a case is that you don't get called for standby again for quite awhile. I was on a jury in 2014 so I think I'm actually eligible again soon. I've yet to go to jury duty in person and NOT be put on a case.

I so wish that was the case - here sitting on a jury only excuses you for 1 year. I think they are desperate in this area for eligible jurors.

 

[Feralpeg]

If I didn't have to go downtown, I wouldn't mind. I've served several times and always find the cases very interesting. I just hate driving to downtown Orlando.

 

[bcla]

I so wish that was the case - here sitting on a jury only excuses you for 1 year. I think they are desperate in this area for eligible jurors.

It depends on the court. I've served on two juries. California state courts all have one year (but only when serving on a jury) where one is excused from showing up for jury duty. I've had multiple summons within a year and had to show up since I wasn't seated in an active jury. However, in my entire life I've gotten a single federal jury summons. That summons said that I could be excused if I'd served on a federal or state jury in the past year (I did and got excused), but I've heard that each federal district court sets its own jury excuse rules. They might consider showing up to be "jury service" or require that it be serving on an actual jury. They might also have different time periods.

https://www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/jury-service/juror-qualifications​

Excuses from Jury Service​

Each of the 94 federal district courts maintains its own jury procedures and policies regarding excuses from jury service. Many courts offer excuses from service, on individual request, to designated groups of persons or occupational classes. Such groups may include persons over age 70; persons who have, within the past two years, served on a federal jury; and persons who serve as volunteer fire fighters or members of a rescue squad or ambulance crew.​

The other issue I've gotten is that I live in an oddball place and have gotten jury summons for another county - several times. While they are state courts, they're all organized by county and juries are assembled from the citizenry of that county. For a while I had to fill in the "other" reason. I kept on getting them, but later they had a check mark for not being a resident of the county.

 

[bcla]

If I didn't have to go downtown, I wouldn't mind. I've served several times and always find the cases very interesting. I just hate driving to downtown Orlando.

No public transportation? My jury locations have been interesting. California consolidated its state district and superior courts into just superior courts. Even then, it seems the old district court locations are handing misdemeanors, traffic cases, evictions, etc. And I'm not sure why my sole federal jury summons was for San Francisco when Oakland was closer.

The large court in my county is in the county seat, and it's kind of interesting finding parking. They used to have a slip that could be used as a parking permit to park longer than the time limits on specified areas, but that's no longer the case. Last time I did find all-day public parking spots a few blocks away. The smaller court has a fairly large parking lot that's free.

 

[SteveH]

Never sat on a Jury, but been called for service many times. So far every time I get in they settle before we're seated, wasting at least a day or two. Last time I went in I got dismissed as I knew to many cops, lawyers and in my profession to much about youth protection. Thankfully we only have to call in the Friday before for two weeks, if needed they tell us when to show up.

 

[RamblingMad]

Makes me lose faith in humanity. Watching people come up with the most ridiculous excuses for why they don't want to be a jury makes my blood boil.

 

[bcla]

Makes me lose faith in humanity. Watching people come up with the most ridiculous excuses for why they don't want to be a jury makes my blood boil.

Yeah - I had a valid excuse the last time I went in for jury service. The judge made it clear that he would accept several excuses, such as vacation plans with nonrefundable transportation and/or lodging, a child to take care of without viable child care options, and running sole proprietorship businesses. Several potential jurors stated that they had small businesses to run and the judge excused them. Our potential jury pool included a few doctors from large medical practices including one from Kaiser and another from Sutter Health (a large hospital/medical provider in Northern California). When the doctors said they couldn't be replaced, the judge was besides himself, asking why they thought that a large medical practice couldn't handle missing one doctor. He asked if anyone ever went on vacation or if they had any contingencies for a doctor being sick. Obviously they had no answer. Quite a few of the excuses were that potential jurors worried about some sort of retribution at work from poor performance reviews up to being fired for not getting off jury duty. The judge specifically said that if there was any retribution, he wanted to be contacted and would handle it personally. He made it clear that retribution against an employee serving on a jury is a crime.

I remember the first time I went in for jury service when I was employed. Not my project leader, but our program manager was telling me to go to our company attorneys because they must have some way of getting me out of jury service. I remember other employees milling around while we were discussing it saying that he had no idea what he was talking about. I asked HR, and was told to show up, and company policy was that it was a civic responsibility where I would be paid my regular salary. I ended up on a jury in a civil trial that lasted 6 weeks for 4 days a week. My project leader did arrange for me to get a laptop computer, but there really wasn't much I could do with it since it was before widespread internet access, and my engineering tasks were done on a high performance workstation at my desk. I could work on documentation and save to a 3.5" floppy. I did have to provide proof of jury service though, and I picked that up at the jury services clerk. I also kept my jury pay, which was a measly $5/day which didn't pay for meals. I don't think I qualified for mileage because it was less than 25 miles as the crow flies.

 

[skyblue17]

My first case I was on was for federal court. It was in Brooklyn and people from five counties were called in. I was lucky that it was only 45 minutes from me. Someone on my case lived in Suffolk Country (eastern Long Island)! My other case was county and went on for three weeks, so was still annoying enough, especially since it was 45 minutes in the opposite direction of work.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I so wish that was the case - here sitting on a jury only excuses you for 1 year. I think they are desperate in this area for eligible jurors.

Probably because so many residents eligible for jury duty wnill do whatever they can to wriggle their way out - see post # 79.

 

[Squirlz]

I wonder what would happen to someone who just threw out their jury summons for the last 15 years or so?

 

[jdb in AZ]

I wonder what would happen to someone who just threw out their jury summons for the last 15 years or so?

Probably depends on the jurisdiction. some states/counties can afford to go after the non-compliant jurists. Others can't.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I so wish that was the case - here sitting on a jury only excuses you for 1 year. I think they are desperate in this area for eligible jurors.

It varies by type of court (at least here). There's federal court; state court; county court; and city courts.

The way it works here, in the County court system, if you get a summons, you have to answer it within 10 days. Then you are put in a telephone pool. Every night after 5 pm you must call in to see if you're required to report to the court the next morning. You have to call in for 5 nights (business days). If you're not required to actually report, your jury service is completed for one year (for country level).

There's no automatic excuse for age here.

Some court systems actually require you to sit on a jury to be excused.

There's no blanket answer for how it's handled.

 

[mumto3girls]

Some of you have been called so many times. I was called only once more than 20 years ago. It was a civil case and I was an insurance adjuster and my company had worked with some of the attorneys involved so I was excused quickly. I think I had to call nightly after that for the rest of the week to see if I was needed the next day, but never was.

I would really like to serve on a jury sometime. There have been times in my life when it would have been difficult with jobs, small children and school, but I could do it now very easily.

 

[bcla]

I was thinking about jury retaliation laws. Certainly it would work in my state for me. There's also a federal juror retaliation law. The only thing I would think might be a little bit tricky is that a lot of people work across state lines and would be required to serve on a jury related to their place of residence. Maybe the state laws would apply regardless of where the jury service is? Still - I remember one particular judge saying he would take an interest in any juror or potential juror who was threatened, although I'm not sure he could do anything across state lines other than contact the local DA or perhaps a judge in that state.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I was called only once more than 20 years ago.

Well, my first jury duty notice ever showed up about 40 years ago at my childhood home about a month after I moved out and 800 miles away.

My second notice was like 20 years ago, and I had young children that I was caregiver for with kids in elementary school. I got excused from that one.

Then I got one last year.

My husband, on the other hand, gets a notice about every 3 years. He was just picked for a jury and day four a mistrial was called.

 

[mousefan73]

Makes me lose faith in humanity. Watching people come up with the most ridiculous excuses for why they don't want to be a jury makes my blood boil.

Well I guess I would be one of those people that wanna make your blood boil. I am personally against the jury system. I got called years ago when I got when I still lived in the states and had gone through my mind many scenarios and what I could say to get out of it. I have a life to live and had a very expensive vacation planned in the near future. I already have lost faith in a lot of humanity And that anyone part of the humanity can be part of a jury and make a life or death decision is simply frightening. It’s actually baffling as I believe United States is one a few countries that allows any old man or woman from the street to be part of a jury without any type of legal training or knowledge. this is what scares me is that when I see how many people can’t even figure out the basics in life or have common sense it’s expected for them to make a legal decision ????. Sure lawyers get to pick and choose but they don’t get the whole picture of that person.

I also had a friend that had jury duty and was chosen for a murder case. At least it was a gang related so it wasn’t as tragic for him as let’s say a parent killing their child, nonetheless this deeply affected him mentally for months . He had nothing to do with this crime and yet his life was deeply affected. Also personally imagine having to deal with this during the day and not being able to talk about it at night. it was tough seeing crying family in court and having to look at crime scene images. I just simply baffles me that a person with no criminal justice background or legal knowledge is forced to be involved in this situation and make a decision

 

[bcla]

Well I guess I would be one of those people that wanna make your blood boil. I am personally against the jury system. I got called years ago when I got when I still lived in the states and had gone through my mind many scenarios and what I could say to get out of it. I have a life to live and had a very expensive vacation planned in the near future. I already have lost faith in a lot of humanity And that anyone part of the humanity can be part of a jury and make a life or death decision is simply frightening. It’s actually baffling as I believe United States is one a few countries that allows any old man or woman from the street to be part of a jury without any type of legal training or knowledge. this is what scares me is that when I see how many people can’t even figure out the basics in life or have common sense it’s expected for them to make a legal decision ????. Sure lawyers get to pick and choose but they don’t get the whole picture of that person.

I also had a friend that had jury duty and was chosen for a murder case. At least it was a gang related so it wasn’t as tragic for him as let’s say a parent killing their child, nonetheless this deeply affected him mentally for months . He had nothing to do with this crime and yet his life was deeply affected. Also personally imagine having to deal with this during the day and not being able to talk about it at night. it was tough seeing crying family in court and having to look at crime scene images. I just simply baffles me that a person with no criminal justice background or legal knowledge is forced to be involved in this situation and make a decision

I've served on two juries and oddly enough both had an attorney as the foreman. Both indicated that it was highly unusual because most judges don't want other jurors going to the attorney serving on the jury for legal advice. But normally they want people to think for themselves.

As for a vacation, that was one situation where one particular judge noted that he would likely excuse anyone with a vacation where the trial might stretch into said vacation.

And the US is not unique in jury trials. This comes from the English system and they still have jury trials in England, although other parts of the UK have different rules.

 

[mousefan73]

I was chosen for a 4-day civil trial downtown once, and it was actually kind of fun.

I would want to do it again for a civil trial, but around here the courthouse for criminal trials is very scary. I live in the same county as the city of Chicago, so we are assigned to the same criminal courthouse as big gang-related trials and other high-profile cases.

I have had friends and coworkers that have served jury duty at that courthouse and they all say that they had to park in the same parking lot as family and friends of the defendant/plaintiffs. They have all said they have been scared they would be followed. My boss actually just told me yesterday that she was called for jury duty there once on a day a high-profile judgement was supposed to he handed down, and all of the people in her jury pool were escorted into a secure hallway with no windows and locked doors while police stood guard with rifles. The potential jurors (that weren't even involved in that case!) were told to stand against the walls of the hallways and not to talk until the building was cleared of all families/friends of the person on trial. They stood there for about 30 minutes, she said.

Not a juror, but in the same courthouse - a few years ago, a resident of my very safe and nothing-really-happens-here town was a witness (he was a security guard at the place and time of the incident) to a crime committed by some gang members. He spent the morning testifying at the same criminal court, then drove home and pulled up in front of his house in time to see his wife and 18 month old son for lunch. A car had followed him from the courthouse, pulled up next to him and shot him point blank in the head and chest. He died in his car in front of his house. His wife heard the gunshots and ran out to find her husband dead. It took almost a year for our police to find the murderers, but they eventually did. They were allies/friends/fellow gang members with the defendant, and had followed the security guard back to his house from the courthouse parking lot.

They have a long way to go in terms of security at that place.

The story of my friend in my post above took place in Cook county so I know excately what you are talking about. What you describe about the parking lots and dealing with family of victims was the worse for him. With gang trials the entire extended clan of the victim shows up... was very scary... This is why I am against the jury system. my friend was forced by "civic duty" to deal with this.. It was not his choice.
that is horrible about the guy in your neighborhood.

 

[mousefan73]

oops double