I have never had it, & always wanted to get called in for it, but now I don't know. I just got a new job & work from 11pm to 7am, I go home & sleep from 7:30 to 3 o'clock. Now that I have my bio clock reset I don't care to mess with it over the usual kind of manusha that involves a jury. It would be worth it to me if it were a murder case or other interesting case, but I doubt I will get something so interesting. I know it's my civic duty, but I would really rather just bow out. It does pay a whopping $8.50 per day though.[rolleyes]

Have you ever had it, & did you find it fun, or interesting?

It is really easy to get out of if you do not want to do it...

I had a friend say that he was in the NRA during the selection process and for some reason that was enough for him to get passed over....




t

I work the same shift you do, only I head to bed around 3:00-3:30. There ain't jack to do in this podunk little berg after the sun goes down, an there sure isn't crap to watch on TV.

So when I got my notice, I went in and served and didn't miss work, either night. Yes, I was selected. We convicted the guy of theft. And the funny thing is, I haven't gotten a summons in the past 4-5 years (however long it's been.)

Your employer should have some sort of "legal leave" for just this sort of thing. Most will pay you your regular wages if you sign over what the court pays you. But it will mess up [u]your[/u] sleep pattern, and that can be a real pain in the ass. I know.

Your SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH will commence shortly.  Good luck.

If you really feel like you would be better off not going then don't.  Just don't show up.  I know, I know everyone is going to say, "OMG that's illegal!!"  However, the jury duty letter is sent via the mail.  Unconfirmed mail in fact.  If you don't sign for the mail, the .gov has no way to offically know you recieved the letter.  According to my uncle, this trick has worked for him numerous times.

- Matt

when they're canvassing potential jurors, just say "I believe people should be held accountable for their own actions"...the defense will have you removed so fast your head will spin hehehe.  

I'm sure it'd be real cool if everyone did that when you were on trial, wouldn't it? [rolleyes]

It's minutia.  Minutiae if plural.[:D]

Funny thing is you never know if you'll get selected.  My GF works in alcoholic disease research and they put her on a jury for DUI.  Go figure.  The guy ended up pleading guilty and she got checked off as serving without having to return.
Sure it's easy to get out of it.  Remember this if you ever get on the wrong side of the law.  Wouldn't you'd rather there are some intelligent people on your jury instead of the dregs of humanity that "couldn't" get out of it?

Just tell the judge you're a bigot or something. He/She won't [i]let[/i] you be on the jury.

I personally would not do this; however, each and every person's situation is different.  I'm not here to assume Searcherfortruth's reasons and motives for not wishing to go.  The man asked a question, and I gave him an answer.  So keep your rolling eyes to yourself.

Btw, this trick works for those photo tickets sent in the mail.

- Matt

a friend of mine got a jury summons, i teased her that she would probably get stuck with a murder trial. didnt see her for the next 3 days. came back and ended up she did get saddled with a murder trial.

Guilty.

It is aprt of your duty as a citizen. You can get out of it, but it will require you to lie or to act like a fool. As an honorable person, you will have a hard time doing that, and may well get selected.

I always got excluded from criminal trials during jury selection (for some reason, defense attorneys don't want a cop on the jury) but I actually got to sit on a civil case a few years ago. The first time I got called, then Governor George Bush also got called, and he showed up and didn't try and get out of it. If it is good enough for him, than it is for me too.

had it last summer, actually got picked for a jury (kidnap and assault) but the guy plead out the day the trial was supposed to start, it was mildly interesting.....just be careful trying to get out of it, the judge i had didn't take kindly to some guy being obviously over the top to get out of it

I am a LEO and just was called, I went. It is part of your responsibility as a citizen.
WOrst thing is that I would never get picked. They asked these questions.
 1- Are you or any member of your family in Law enforcemet....Me, my uncle was aSergeant, my Cousin a Captain, My other uncle was the Chief of the depart where the perp committed the crime.
  2- Do you have a problem with the defendent and several witnesses needing a translator...as they came to this country and will not learn the language!....... Well your Honor, my mother was an immigrant and did not speak English, my grandfather told her, you arein America now, we will all speak English!

I've had Jury Duty three times at 30 days a pop. I did one murder trial and a few drug, burglary, etc type things. You'd be amazed how NOT like TV a trial is. We sent a guy to prision for 60 years all on circumstantial evidence, how's that for not like Hollywood?

I served on a jury that sent a drug dealer to prison without the posssibility of parole. This quy was in his late 30s max. Up until this point, I have NEVER seen real rock of cocaine. The jurors actually passed around a nickel rock confiscated from the defendant, i.e. $5 worth of rock cocaine.

Searcherfortruth: Here in Kalif it is not easy to get out of jury duty anymore. I have seen doctors, lawyers, and even judges serving. I would present your jury summons to your boss, and say I have to go, it they hassle you, I'm sure there are laws against that, at least in Kalif.

Twice for me. Three months on grand jury the first time and two weeks of petit jury the second time. At least I get paid the difference from work for serving jury duty.

I had jury duty on Monday.  We were outside the 171st Court waiting to be seated when the defendent pled guilty.  At this point I was just on the panel and had not been selected for the jury.  There were a few sullen looking gang bangers outside the court room.  It looked like it might have been interesting.

I just got summoned but, happily, non-selected for a federal grand jury.

Ordinarily I really wouldn’t care, but apparently this jury meets for three consecutive days, once a month, for a total of 18 months!!  What an ordeal that must be!

Pay was $40 a day, which is obviously better than $8.50, but is still pretty bad for anyone who loses their regular salary for that day.

It actually might have been interesting (this is the same district court that Zacarias Moussaui is appearing before).  Still, I’m just too old and jaded to care - and I’ve sat through a few trials anyway (on the prosecution side – thank you!!).

At the risk of overly generalizing, nowadays it seems the criminal cases that go to trial are pretty serious – the lesser offences tend to be plea-bargained out.  You might get something interesting.  Civil trials are probably a different story, though.

Generally speaking, socialist-types love to serve on juries and freethinkers hate it.

Now, consider how much better things would be if it were the other way around.

Serve, please. If for no other reason than someday it may be YOU on trial, wishing one of US was amongst the twelve deciding your fate.

cynic

i got called 2 years ago, defense attorney didnt like me [:D]

i just got called up a few days ago, will have to serve in mid-july, luckily in LA County they have a good system now.
you call in the night before to see if they are calling your jury pool number, if they dont call you all week your done for the year.
if they call your pool, you go down for the day, if they dont call you into court that day, your done for the year, but dont get paid except for mileage (15 cents a mile).
if you get called into court then its up in the air, you could get put on a jury or dismissed in "voir dire" like i was last time, but at least on the 2nd day you start to get paid, 15 bux a day.

Personally, I think that is a terrible attitude to take. Don't you have children and family, and the next generation of people, what about them? Jeffersonian-style democracy is not cheap. Next time you want a trial how about a trial by fire? The right to a speedy and a trial by jury is about as basic as democracy gets. Like the right to vote and 2nd Amend.

Nah!  Not really.

If selected, I would have served.

But why pretend I would have enjoyed it?

I've always thought jury duty could be fun.

A buddy of mine was selected to serve on some kind of racing case.  He just so happened to have a Hot Rod magazine with him.  Prosecution booted him first.  No questions, just thanks for showing up... now bye-bye.

I'd have to agree that you should serve.  If for no other reason, that a sane man be in the jury.

I got called 9/99, and was selected for a 2nd degree murder trial.

Here's what happened:

- 2 of 4 prosecution witnesses didn't show
- 1 of 2 prosecution witness who did show, changed his testimony on the witness stand (i.e. became a hostile witness to the prosecution)
- The 1 prosecution witness I wouldn't have trusted to buy a loaf of bread, but we all ageed on this one issue (witnessing the murder of her friend) she was completely reliable
- I, a NRA Life Member, was selected to be on the jury, much to my surprise.
- One of the pictures showed the first contact shot.  This is the shot that would have killed the victim, although he was shot 2 more times.  The imprint of the weapon's front sight was left in the victim's skin.  Although the prosecution gun witness (professional) mentioned the front sight, he didn't specify the type of weapon.
- The type of weapon became important since it was not recovered, but 3 bullets were the next day.  The prosecution then had to somehow link the 3 bullets with the witness' testimony that the weapon was a revolver.
- I volunteered as the jury foreman.
- I set up a round robin system where each juror verbalized their notes on each witness, starting with a new juror with each witness.  It was amazing the stuff that people missed that others caught
- I never allowed the jury to "vote";  my reasoning was that our job was to review all the evidence then and only then come to a verdict.
- We voted at the end, once.  All 12 jurors voted for conviction.
- Right after the verdict was given in the court room, the lead detective came into our room and told us that they had been trying to get this guy since he was 15 (he was in late 20's or early 30's at the trial)!  Needless to say, all of us were relieved that we did the right thing.

As far as I know, the guy is still serving.

Oh, by the way:  Its my considered opinion that the Defense Attorney through the trial.  I'm not a lawyer, but even I could have come up with a bunch more stuff to defend his "client".

Another thing:  Forget the shouting going on in the courtroom in every TV and movie you've ever seen:  There was no shouting and everything was very low key, discussed in conversational mode, even when they disagreed, which they did often, if only for the Defense to have motion to appeal later on.

Thanks,

Merlin

One of my trips to jury duty was interesting-

1st day - summoned to report  at 60 centre street, 8:30 am, September 11th, 2001.

Hope you have better luck.

I was called and served once in Missouri when I was about 22. It was a civil case in which a woman was seeking damages for being hit by a car driven by a young kid in a parking lot. Her lawyer was completely inept. We awarded her actual damages only, which amounted to about $3600 in medical bills. We added 40% to that, figuring that was what her lawyer would take.

I have received summons in the mail to appear 3 times since I've lived in Kansas, but each time, when I call the recording on Friday before the Monday I'm supposed to appear, my group has not been selected. Good thing, too, because each time I've received a summons in Kansas, it's been at a time when I was really busy at work.

My Mom sat on a federal Grand Jury about 10 years ago regarding a drug smuggling operation. Took 5 weeks to go through the thing. Wow.

Don't want to serve? When the prosecutor or judge asks if there are any questions, ask them to explain "Jury Nullification".

I was just about to post that!

Also, if you really want to make a change, don't tell them you know what it means.

[url]www.fija.org[/url]

It's not that I want out of jury duty. I'm just hoping it will be something interesting, instead of someone fighting a disorderly conduct ticket, because they got 3 citations for their dog barking all night kind of crap that I don't want to change my sleep pattern for.
I wouldn't give a bogus reason, or present myself under any false light in order to be rejected for duty.
I have gotten some good suggestions on how to be a non selectee though! Thanks


(Rileyindy)I didn't think I spelled minutia even remotely close, but spell check didn't question it, & I new the spelling Nazi's would gig me for it. Thanks for not letting me down.[BD]