Well, I got the dreaded "Jury Duty Summons"

[BabyTyrant]

A few days ago I got the dreaded Jury Duty Summons, just what I want to do, get a day off work to get paid $40 per day for as long as it lasts.

Why couldn't I get that when I was making barely above minimum wage? They want me to spend hours in court for $40 per day when I'm making over $15 an hour now? Why they gots to ruin my cash flow?

 

[dogboy]

I've had the same crap happen to me, a couple of times. One time, they brought the prisoner in, orange jump suit and chains, and I said loud enough to be heard, "Oh yeah. He looks guilty." I didn't get chosen to serve on the jury which is what I wanted as I was working three real jobs at the time.

The other time they had me along with everyone else sitting in a room for about 7 hours before we saw anyone and were told to go home. They treat you like you were one of the prisoners, which is why I said what I did the second time.

 

[Scaramouche]

I've had a few of those. A couple of times I called the night before and was dismissed. Like dogboy, I sat around for several hours and then went home. The last time I spent two days before I was called and after some questioning by the attorney's I was dismissed. For that one I had to fill out a questionnaire and under hobbies I said I like to watch "Law and Order". Didn't work. :detective1:

 

[egor]

I have gotten a couple of these. The last time I never got called up. The time before that was city court. We had just moved to the hopi reservation. I offered to come if they paid mileage. THe note I got back was the nicest drop dead letter. There was a couple other times and again never got called up. My First time I was paneled for three different juries and finally got seated on a three day trial for a postal clerk that was stealing credit cards out of the mail.

 

[ESPF]

The last time I got called for JD it turned out to be for someone's dozen pot plants in the attic.
It took less than two minutes to get kicked off that one.
Step 1 Inform the judge that you were Military Police for twelve years.
Step 2 Inform the defence lawyer that your bff is a founding member of NORMAL (National Organization for the Legalisation of Matawan) Trust me the place went dead silent and the blood drained from the face of the defence lawyer.

 

[parcelboy2]

I'm from the UK and was wondering about US jury duty is it a Federal offence not to turn up or ignore the summons ?
in the UK "You can be fined up to £1,000 if you do not return the form or turn up for your jury service".

 

[Drifter]

The expression "Freedom isn't Free!" is a pretty common slogan. Jury duty is annoyingly inconvenient, but it is one of the costs of freedom.

 

[SgtOddball]

Luckily for me I can turn around and say I can't do it because my disabilities may impede my judgement.

 

[KimbaWolfNagihiko]

I heard somewhere that sometimes they pull people for jury duty based off of driver's licenses. If that's the case, guess I don't have to worry about being called!

 

[BabyTyrant]

I heard somewhere that sometimes they pull people for jury duty based off of driver's licenses. If that's the case, guess I don't have to worry about being called!

Wrong, I don't drive, never had a driver's license (or even permit) and I still got the jury duty summons.

 

[parcelboy2]

Wrong, I don't drive, never had a driver's license (or even permit) and I still got the jury duty summons.

Its most probably done by DSS or in the UK NI number , as we all have one

 

[CuddleWoozle]

I got called once and they made me be the 'alternate'. I basically sat around eating stale ass chips and pretzels until they said "OK. No one died during this one day trial. You can go home now."

And it was over a couple of drunk guys fighting in a bar. Because one left the bar, realized he forgot his cell phone, went back and got his phone and the other guy got in his face for like the fifth time that night. So he punched him in the face. Sheesh.

And for the record I really really really wanted to stand up and do the following:

To the pair of drunks: "You're both idiots. Stop getting so drunk you just want to fight with people."
To the Attorney: "Stop fuckin' acting like you don't understand the layout of the bar. I've seen your ass walking out of there before." (It's on a main thoroughfare through town and I worked in transportation for a long time. ;P He liked to drink on his lunch breaks.)
To the Judge: "Stop pretending like you're innocent, I know you wear an ankle monitor because you keep getting picked up for cocaine and driving drunk."

But I didn't. (And that's true about the judge. LOL She was sitting on the bench passing judgements on people for drugs and alcohol offenses while she was in trouble for doing the same stuff. She should have been kicked out for conflict of interest. She's finally been removed from the position, but dang. It took way too long for that to happen.)

 

[willnotwill]

Here they pull both from the drivers license and voter registration rolls.

I got called once but I'd already moved away from the county involved so I got excused from that.
I got called for federal court but it was one of these "phone the night before" thing for about five days and then they said I was excused.
Currently waiting to hear on a local one I got. It overlaps with a convention I'm attending. I asked for at least a day of deferral. We'll see what the judge says.

 

[ShippoFox]

I have never been summoned. I'm glad... I don't know how I'd even get there.

 

[Sapphyre]

I served once. It was an interesting experience, often inconvenient but in the end I found it rewarding.

It was an armed robbery case. Long story short, the defendant had been out with two of his friends when said friends decided to rob two passing brothers at knifepoint. All three were soon caught, together, with the stolen money. The defendant's claim is that he was unaware of his friends' plans or that they engaged in such activities, and was thus only a bystander. You can see how it kinda looks bad for him though… And to otp it off, the defendant was black, while the entire jury (including yours truly) was white. On paper that shouldn't matter, but prejudice is still a real thing…

When all was said and done, both victims' testimony corroborated the fact that the defendant never did or said anything at all, only stood there while the robbery was taking place. No weapons were ever found in his possession. Guilt would have to hinge upon supposition of his intentions, and that just wasn't good enough for myself nor for most of the other jurors (there were a few holdouts but they conceded). The only audience throughout the trial was the defendant's family, and it wasn't hard to tell that they were expecting the worst. I was happy to help make sure things turned out as they should. ^.^ I still get a warm feeling thinking back on it.

 

[ggreggy]

Wrong, I don't drive, never had a driver's license (or even permit) and I still got the jury duty summons.

it depends on the court, but typically they use the voter rolls to call up potetial jurers. if you are called to a federal court and you dont show up it would be a federal offense. if it is a state, or city court it is a state offense. either way the judge can send a marshall or state police to get you--you do NOT want that. if you think jury duty is a problem, cooling you heels in a cell is much worse.