Jury Duty

TheGolfPilot

TheGolfPilot

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Golfpilot
I have been summoned for jury duty 6 times since I turned 18. I am 26. I read that they like people with clean records. Does anybody here have any knowledge about this? If I had a couple speeding tickets will I be less likely to get summoned? The cost of going to these FAR outweighs the cost of a few speeding tickets and the speeding would be far more fun.

Probably not the place to ask put PoA was open when I opened the letter..:mad2:
 
Lol! Man, six times. I got summoned while in the Marines. Judge asked if anyone felt they weren't capable of fulfilling the duties of a jurer. Told him I wasn't a local citizen and only lived in the county for 2 years. He said, nope, you can serve...sit down.
 
Summoned just twice. First time, never picked.

Second time, part of a 6 person jury on a juvenile case that in my opinion, should have been handled by the boy's parents and not referred to the cops/courts.
 
I get called every year, haven't missed one in 20 years. I did sit on one trial that was several weeks long and enjoyed every second of it. The case I was on i actually became the jury foreman, if you are on a jury do not go to the bathroom until a foreman has been chosen, juss saying. Pruitt v. G.M.
 
TheGolfPilot said:
I have been summoned for jury duty 6 times since I turned 18. I am 26. I read that they like people with clean records. Does anybody here have any knowledge about this? If I had a couple speeding tickets will I be less likely to get summoned? The cost of going to these FAR outweighs the cost of a few speeding tickets and the speeding would be far more fun.

Probably not the place to ask put PoA was open when I opened the letter..:mad2:
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Don't forget to account for increased insurance premiums.
 
Luvrv8 said:
I get called every year, haven't missed one in 20 years. I did sit on one trial that was several weeks long and enjoyed every second of it. The case I was on i actually became the jury foreman, if you are on a jury do not go to the bathroom until a foreman has been chosen, juss saying. Pruitt v. G.M.
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You must have been on someone's payroll. If you work for yourself and get paid by billable hours it would SUCK.
 
Summoned three times..

First time in Orlando 35 years ago... Death penalty case... They asked me if I would vote for death... I said " BURN HIM".... Instantly dismissed

Twice more here in Jackson Hole.. Picked to serve both times... Both times the prosecutor totally botched the case ( made up lies) ...:mad2::mad2:..

Both times we found the defendant NOT guilty.....

That was 15 years ago......

NEVER been called since...:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
TheGolfPilot said:
I have been summoned for jury duty 6 times since I turned 18. I am 26. I read that they like people with clean records. Does anybody here have any knowledge about this? If I had a couple speeding tickets will I be less likely to get summoned? The cost of going to these FAR outweighs the cost of a few speeding tickets and the speeding would be far more fun.

Probably not the place to ask put PoA was open when I opened the letter..:mad2:
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It might have an impact on you bring selected for a jury (unlikely) but it will have no impact on you being called to jury duty.
 
Just send them a letter explaining that you have Irittable Bowel Syndrome and are subject to bouts of instantly explosive diarhea, but you would be happy to serve.
 
I have a "Get out of jury duty free" card.

images
 
paflyer said:
You must have been on someone's payroll. If you work for yourself and get paid by billable hours it would SUCK.
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At the time I was, now I am not. I still would sit on a extended trial if needed.
 
Was called to be on the jury for this trial...

Was in final interviews when the judge asked about hardships. I mentioned that I had already paid for airline tickets to Hawaii and the judge was nice and let me be dismissed. He didn't have to.

Would have been interesting.

Of course, could have been tossed for something else in the interview. Hard to say.

The initial written questionnaire and follow up group interviews were quite interesting.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12549544
 
Oh and my initial calculation was that sitting on the jury would cost me at least $12,000. Ouch. And that was with partial compensation by my employer. But they wouldn't cover a trial that went that long.
 
I think I've gotten the card in the mail 5+ times. Only had to show up once. It was a domestic violence murder trial in a small county. I think they had half the eligible people in the county in the jury pool. I had a high lottery number so was not really in danger of getting picked, but had to go through the whole interview process.

I've probably had 3-4 speeding tickets in my life...
 
My county uses DMV records; but they notify by first class mail, so, as the Post Office is the sender's agent, we pretty much ignore the notices. If they get short handed, I imagine they might go registered mail, or another method to prove delivery.

I used to go, but given my gender, age, and race, just was never gonna be selected anyway. . .maybe five times, when I worked for someone else. Not in the cards. . .
 
Yup, if you vote chances are you get called, just ask what nullification means and you're get off from jury duty, sad but true.
 
Been called 6 or 7 times for criminal and civil juries, but only served 3 times. Had a terrible time with the prosecutor on the first case, and ended up on the jury. Store security botched the case and we found not guilty. The store chain changed their security policy the next week after talking to us. Defendant settled on the second as the hearing was to start, and we found for the defendant on the civil ticket.

I got out of one because I was involved in a similar case, in the same county. Judge wasn't going to let me off, but I stated that I did not want to serve, even though I would judge only on the evidence presented, as my minor involvement in the other case could be used as an appeal point and I did not want to cause that. I even volunteered to be put in the next called pool. He dismissed me and I wasn't called again while I was living in that county.
 
I've gotten cards 3 times in 30 years. Once I sat around in the lounge and never saw a courtroom. The second time my number was high I didn't have to even go into the courthouse. The last time was federal but I was deferred because I had a pending court date for a traffic ticket on the same day.

If you do have to go down and wait at the courthouse, bring a book. War and Peace would be a good choice.
 
Massachusetts now has the one day/one trial process and assume it is random. Well, I have been randomly selected 7 times in 40 years. I know many others that have never been called. This is why I play the lottery. Of course I did get called to serve once just after I moved to a different county. I told them I would be happy to serve anyway but they gave me a pass.
My first time was 38 years ago, just after being eligible, for a capital case. It was quite interesting but not enough to entice me into law. I enjoyed my time on the jury but not my time away from my young family.
 
In California?

Call the Contra Costa County registrar and get your duplicate voter registration removed.

The rule is on call once every two years, and you almost never get called in. Someone screwed up.

This kind of thing varies A LOT by state.

Don't believe stupid myths or you'll end up with an expensive speeding ticket AND still have jury duty.
 
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Speeding tickets are not going to affect your qualifications for jury duty. If a lot of them, it might lead a lawyer on one side or another to exercise a "peremptory" challenge (a freebie one for any reason or no reason) to keep you off in certain cases.

But you might be surprised at who doesn't get kicked off. I had a jury trial involving bad faith banking claims in which we left a retired banker on the jury. Despite being a lawyer, I was on the jury in a criminal case a few years ago. And, in what was a very stupid decision for the defense lawyer, I know a case in which the judge who usually sat in that courtroom and heard DUI cases all day was kept on the jury on a DUI. That's just stuff I know about personally so there have got to be many many more examples.
 
In New York you get one "free" postponement per call. I always (well, both times i've been called to date) defer my Jury Duty date to the week before Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July.

The lawyers don't want to work that week, and risk having to continue the case on the Friday after T-giving, for example. So the few cases that come up that week seem to get settled outside of court, Jury dismissed.

-Skip
 
MAKG1 said:
In California?

Call the Contra Costa County registrar and get your duplicate voter registration removed.

The rule is on call once every two years, and you almost never get called in. Someone screwed up.

This kind of thing varies A LOT by state.

Don't believe stupid myths or you'll end up with an expensive speeding ticket AND still have jury duty.
Click to expand...

I might have duplicate voter registration. I do get two packets every year.
That is good to know and I am looking into it.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Speeding tickets are not going to affect your qualifications for jury duty. If a lot of them, it might lead a lawyer on one side or another to exercise a "peremptory" challenge (a freebie one for any reason or no reason) to keep you off in certain cases.

But you might be surprised at who doesn't get kicked off. I had a jury trial involving bad faith banking claims in which we left a retired banker on the jury. Despite being a lawyer, I was on the jury in a criminal case a few years ago. And, in what was a very stupid decision for the defense lawyer, I know a case in which the judge who usually sat in that courtroom and heard DUI cases all day was kept on the jury on a DUI. That's just stuff I know about personally so there have got to be many many more examples.
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Yep. I wouldn't have thought lawyers would be left on juries as often as they are, but they are. And usually wind up as the foreperson. But I've never heard of a judge winding up on a jury in his own court. :lol: I would have expected him to be excluded. :confused:
 
If you think "lawyers don't want to work" at a particular time has the slightest effect on when trials occur, you ain't spent much time around judges and their courtrooms! I sure would not want to be the lawyer who asks some judges to reschedule their trial docket around my holiday schedule.

If you said "judges don't want to work," you might be closer to the truth, but most judges care about moving their dockets along, so assume nothing.
 
SCCutler said:
If you think "lawyers don't want to work" at a particular time has the slightest effect on when trials occur, you ain't spent much time around judges and their courtrooms! I sure would not want to be the lawyer who asks some judges to reschedule their trial docket around my holiday schedule.



If you said "judges don't want to work," you might be closer to the truth, but most judges care about moving their dockets along, so assume nothing.
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I got stuck as bailiff for a judge who insisted on finishing every trial in one week (all misdemeanors, but some just need more time). He'd keep the jury, attorneys and courtroom staff there until 8:00 on Friday evening sometimes just to satisfy his OCD and ego.

When he retired, I don't any clerks or other staff even said "goodbye" to him.
 
Lindberg said:
Yep. I wouldn't have thought lawyers would be left on juries as often as they are, but they are. And usually wind up as the foreperson. But I've never heard of a judge winding up on a jury in his own court. :lol: I would have expected him to be excluded. :confused:
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So did the judge :D

I have a pretty good idea what happened. The prosecutor didn't care one way of the other. The defense lawyer, fairly inexperienced at the time, should have excluded him. But he was concerned the judge might have wanted to be on the jury and would be ****ed at him and take it out on him in future cases if he used a challenge to get rid of him.

Result- quick conviction and a judge who thought the defense lawyer was a idiot.

BTW, on the case in which I was a juror. First, I was not the foreperson.

Perhaps more interestingly (the long version is a good story to share with a lawyer over a beer), after the verdict, the judge gave the attorneys a chance to talk with the jurors. I asked, "what were you thinking?" :eek:

The defense lawyer said she would never keep a lawyer on again (even though she got the verdict that would help her client); the Deputy DA said he had done it many times. After we were done, the Dept'y DA and I spent about an hour together talking and he went into much more detail about why he kept me on. The guy was real good.
 
midlifeflyer said:
I have a pretty good idea what happened. The prosecutor didn't care one way of the other. The defense lawyer, fairly inexperienced at the time, should have excluded him. But he was concerned the judge might have wanted to be on the jury and would be ****ed at him and take it out on him in future cases if he used a challenge to get rid of him.
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I obviously don't know the people involved, but I can only think of one or two judges who might hold a challenge against a lawyer, but they'd have to be crazy (and some are) to do so. All of the judges I know well, I can say with certainty, would think the lawyer was an idiot.
 
Get a PhD. They don't like smart people.
Become a priest, pastor or rabbi. They really don't like priests, pastors, and rabbis.
Have a kid who is a State Police CFI. They really, really hate people with kids "on the job".
Join the Air, Army, etc Guard. You can't serve because you could be called to active duty at any moment. (Then have someone in uniform come in and ask for you because you have to report for duty.) All these have worked for me at various times.

True story: I was called for County Jury Duty. When I showed up they asked if there was any reason I couldn't serve. I replied "I'm doing a funeral service for the defendant's mother in 2 days."
"Dismissed. Thank you, you can go."
 
Shepherd said:
Get a PhD. They don't like smart people.
Become a priest, pastor or rabbi. They really don't like priests, pastors, and rabbis.
Have a kid who is a State Police CFI. They really, really hate people with kids "on the job".
Join the Air, Army, etc Guard. You can't serve because you could be called to active duty at any moment. (Then have someone in uniform come in and ask for you because you have to report for duty.) All these have worked for me at various times.

True story: I was called for County Jury Duty. When I showed up they asked if there was any reason I couldn't serve. I replied "I'm doing a funeral service for the defendant's mother in 2 days."
"Dismissed. Thank you, you can go."
Click to expand...


Best excuse of the century.....:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Shepherd said:
Get a PhD. They don't like smart people.
Become a priest, pastor or rabbi. They really don't like priests, pastors, and rabbis.
Have a kid who is a State Police CFI. They really, really hate people with kids "on the job".
Join the Air, Army, etc Guard. You can't serve because you could be called to active duty at any moment. (Then have someone in uniform come in and ask for you because you have to report for duty.) All these have worked for me at various times.

True story: I was called for County Jury Duty. When I showed up they asked if there was any reason I couldn't serve. I replied "I'm doing a funeral service for the defendant's mother in 2 days."
"Dismissed. Thank you, you can go."
Click to expand...

How about just do your service?

Undermining constitutional rights is not something to be proud of.

The OP was trying to deal with excessive service (not very well), not get out of it entirely.

And your generalizations are quite far from universal.
 
MAKG1 said:
How about just do your service?

Undermining constitutional rights is not something to be proud of.

The OP was trying to deal with excessive service (not very well), not get out of it entirely.

And your generalizations are quite far from universal.
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Right, that's governments job
 
I was surprised they kept me on Pruitt v. GM. Ii was one of the first airbag cases in California. I explained to the court that I was the only airbag certified guy at the Mitsubishi Dealership that I worked for a year ago before going to work as a Heavy Equipment Mechanic for the state. Both lawyers kept me. I asked both sides at the end of the trial why I was left on, they said they couldn't read me on what side I was on as far as air bags but both thought I would be able to help others on the jury as far as the techinacal aspect of air bags.
 
Luvrv8 said:
I was surprised they kept me on Pruitt v. GM. Ii was one of the first airbag cases in California. I explained to the court that I was the only airbag certified guy at the Mitsubishi Dealership that I worked for a year ago before going to work as a Heavy Equipment Mechanic for the state. Both lawyers kept me. I asked both sides at the end of the trial why I was left on, they said they couldn't read me on what side I was on as far as air bags but both thought I would be able to help others on the jury as far as the techinacal aspect of air bags.
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That is how juries are supposed to work....:yes:
 
Had to report three times in 50 years as a voter, made the cut once but there was a mistrial declared after the victim (assault plus robbery) started his testimony. One of the jurors recognized the victim from work and there were no alternates to take his place.

Cheers
 
MAKG1 said:
How about just do your service?

Undermining constitutional rights is not something to be proud of.

The OP was trying to deal with excessive service (not very well), not get out of it entirely.

And your generalizations are quite far from universal.
Click to expand...

You need to avoid making unwarranted assumptions.

I've been on juries a bunch of times. One trial for months. On another trial I was sequestered for a couple weeks. No fun, that.

I thought I answered the question rather well, since every suggestion has been tested by me, personally. I serve on the jury of MY choice, once every three years.
 
N801BH said:
That is how juries are supposed to work....:yes:
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Actually it was. At the end of the case during the time both lawyers were asking the jury questions it came up that during the trial we were told about the sensors for the airbags and how many had to agree before a must fire is given in the computer. Some in the jury didn't know what was in the sensor, I was able to tell them how they worked. The judge told the defendant (G.M.) that they were lucky I did that for them. Since the sensor was introduced as evidence it was ok for me to explain to the jury during deliberation how it worked. The verdict spent many years and several levels of appeals, none of them were based on what I was able to educate my fellow jury members on the system. Both sides asked questions about what I said, I told both of them everything.
 
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