Standby Jury Duty Hanging over my head

[Tiny]

I generally don't mind being summoned to Jury duty or getting a notice of Standby Jury Service -- there are 4 courthouses within 10 miles of my house (one of which is a few blocks from my place of employment).    I wouldn't even complain about having to go to the one in the "really bad neighborhood".    My "jury duty" day usually starts a little later and ends a little earlier than an actual "Work day" and I get some personal stuff or work stuff done while I'm "waiting".

 

But, this time I got a Summons for Standby Jury Service - at a courthouse that's 30   F$%king    miles from my house.  It will take me 1 hour and 30 minutes to get there IF I have to go.    IF I have to go.  That "IF" has been hanging over my head for a month. Today I get to call after 4:30pm and find out if my Tuesday is F&^ked over.   I'm down to the last 6 hours of waiting to find out my fate... and it's ruining my Monday.  I can't seem to focus on work... cause I'm so pissed about the possibility of having to burn Tuesday going to Jury Duty (it won't be fun...I've got an hour 30 minute drive in RUSH hour traffic...BOTH WAYS!!!! - it will be a VERY long day)   I'm also kind of betting on some 'bad karma' here - and if I do have to go - I'm pretty much assured I'm going to get picked for jury (because the inconvenience factor is so very high).  

I can't believe how much the "waiting" to find out how screwed I am  is eating away at me.

I need a diversion (since I can't focus on actual work for some reason)...

What's your best Jury Duty story?  It can be something Good or something Bad.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Tell them you believe in the death penalty for all misdemeanors.

They'll send you home in a heartbeat.

[skubikky]

I was called to jury duty for a criminal case at the county courthouse.
The room was filled with about 30-40 potential jurors.
It was a drug case and the defendant was a resident of the town the case was held in.

The DA and defense attorney were interviewing the first 10 jurors.
They go to the third person, a middle aged lady and asked her if for any reason she felt that she wouldn't be able to render a fair verdict.
She said, so that the whole courtroom could hear, that she heard around town that he was definitely guilty and had been dealing for some time and that it
was good that he was arrested and on and on.....
The Defense attorney pushed to invalidate every one of the remaining potential jurors.

We were there about 2 1/2 hours and were then dismissed.

I also sat on a jury for town court....yeah...town court.
A lady was charged with disturbing the peace and some other misdemeanor but insisted on a jury trial.
She had shouted out during a funeral service at a church and used some profanities.

It was kind of silly but she had psychological issues.   She was found guilty and given a fine.

[shanendoah]

Not necessarily my story, but about 5-6 years ago, my husband served on a federal jury. These were two people who were in a business relationship and then also had a personal relationship that went bad, and sued and countersued each other to the extent of the law - eventually taking their case to a federal court. There are two stories here.

1) Jury Selection - Here in WA, when you get selected for Jury Duty, you are sent the dates, but also it mentions right on the summons that if those dates don't work for you, you can go online (don't even have to make a phone call) and move your jury duty to another set of dates. It's easy peasy. (I've known a number of people who have done it.) During jury selection, the potential jurists were asked if there were any conflicts with serving on the jury, given how many days it was going to take, etc. One woman said she couldn't do it because she was scheduled to leave on a family vacation to Hawaii the next day.
Now, here's the thing about federal judges, even more than other judges, they don't take any crap. The judge informed the woman that she had had the option to change her jury duty dates, but she chose not to, obviously trying to get out of jury duty, and it wasn't happening. She would not be excused, so she should just send her family to Hawaii without her.
My husband had a traffic court appearance that also conflicted. He mentioned this and the judge's response was - my court takes precedence over their court. Give the info to my clerk and we'll send over a note telling them to reschedule your traffic court date.

2) After the verdict - This was a mess of a case. The jury agreed that one person (kind of) did harm to the other, but that all remedies/reparations had already been made, so no one owed anyone anything anymore. The judge thanked them for their service, and then APOLOGIZED that they had had to waste their time on this frivolous law suit. Pretty certain neither of those lawyers wanted to be up in front of him ever again. 

[hoops902]

I was on jury selection (county, boring stuff where I'm from) when I was in my mid-20s.

So they asked a bunch of random questions "Do you drink?" and some other random stuff.  Then they asked about me being from my small town (only 3 towns in the county though) and if I knew a specific person (but used his real name that he didn't go by, and the last name was common) and I said no.  So they started telling us at a high level about the case and then asked if anyone had a reason they should be excused, and as they started talking about it I realized that I'd been at the party where this kid vandalized this other kid's car, and that my name was in the police report as someone who'd seen it (but nobody had asked me to be a witness or anything). That's kind of when the "real name" of the kid hit me, and being kind of young and stupid and not thinking about all the other potential jurors in the room I raised my hand and said something to the effect of "I think I was at this party and watched him destroy that guy's car, so maybe I shouldn't be on the jury"...so then all the jury members in the room were dismissed.

I did another state/federal one a few years later (I don't remember which, I just remember it wasn't the little local county courthouse, it was in the capital), but never got selected for a case. It was interesting to see the difference in jury selection. At the county one, it seemed like the only real reason to kick you off was if you knew the person. At the state/federal level (murder case) it was enough to kick me off because my grandparents had been dairy farmers and the dispute leading to the murder was around farmland.

I'm guessing I'll never actually sit on a jury at this point.  I'm way too blunt and opinionated about things 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

The last two years my grandma has been called for federal jury duty. She's been dead since 2006.

They were serious when they said there are no exceptions.

[MJ2.0]

Mar 20, 2017 12:50:22 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

The last two years my grandma has been called for federal jury duty. She's been dead since 2006.

They were serious when they said there are no exceptions.

LMAO!  So just put on a ghost costume and go.

[Tiny]

I've been to Jury Duty every other year for the past 10 years - I've never been selected for a jury - in fact - I think just once a group of about 20 people were pulled from the waiting room (there have always been between 50 and 100 people in the waiting room)... and then the rest of us got sent home.

What are the criteria for getting selected for Jury Duty? I've always assumed it was "punishment" for voting... cause it always seems I get a summons after voting...

[NastyWoman]

Mar 20, 2017 11:52:42 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Tell them you believe in the death penalty for all misdemeanors anyone who makes you drives 30 minutes in rush hour traffic both ways.

They'll send you home in a heartbeat.

Fixed

[dee27]

I was called for a medical malpractice suit and was disqualified because I was under the care of orthopedist. The doctor on trial was not in orthopedics and I had not used his practice, but I was dismissed after 6 hours.

[973beachbum]

I have been called just about every three years since I got out of college.  I try really hard not to get out of it.  I know that is weird but the people at the courthouse really do have a hard time getting people to come in for jury duty.  Lots of people don't get paid for the day so my getting paid by my job makes me feel a little guilty for wanting to just get out of it.

I will say I did refuse to sit on Federal Grand Jury one time.  It turns out regular jury duty doesn't have anything to do with Federal jury duty so I served the regular one at the county court house and a month later get a summons for Fed jury duty in Camden NJ.

With traffic it is at least two hours.  And not in a nice part of Camden either!  They actually have armed police to escort jurors from the parking lot to the courthouse.  They say it like it should make it all better.

Seriously the fact that they go to those lengths doesn't make me feel better!

[NastyWoman]

I get called as regular as clockwork as well. And each time I send back my notice that , as a non-citizen, I am not eligible to serve. It has become harder and harder to convince them to find someone else. Used to be I would return the notice and I was done. Next I would get the same message 3-4 times before they finally believed me.  Last time (less than 1 year ago) I had to provide my green card # as well.  Who knows what they'll come up with next

ETA: each subsequent reminder I receive is sterner than the one before. Going to the point of threatening me with legal consequences if I don't show up to serve. They keep this up and it will be "Rock meet Hard Place" since both serving and not serving seem to be considered punishable by law for me.

[buystoys]

I had jury duty last month on a local matter.  While the prosecutor was discussing one last opportunity to settle with the defendant, the judge gave all of us a brief history on jury duty and why so many people are called for it.  This was going to be a jury of six people, but they called 60.  About 1/2 of them didn't show up.  They then moved us into the jury array and anyone who didn't have a seat was released from duty.  They got credit for it, they just didn't have to go through the selection process.  My name was the fifth one called, so I knew I would be on the jury unless someone contested me.  That didn't happen. 

Right now, Texas doesn't pursue action against people who don't show up for jury duty.  The absence rates are getting very high, though, so there is discussion about implementing a penalty.  The judge told us that this is why people will receive notices much more often than they had in the past, because they need to know that they'll have enough people show up to actually fill a jury for a trial. 

[Tiny]

Well, I have to go tomorrow. I just wish it wasn't in BumbleF*&K.

The summons does say not showing up is punishable by fine...

I wish I could take my crochet project with me - but the crochet hook is prohibited -- I guess it's a weapon. Looks like I'll be reading and sleeping.

Please let me NOT get selected for a jury.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Mar 20, 2017 17:39:43 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Well, I have to go tomorrow. I just wish it wasn't in BumbleF*&K.

The summons does say not showing up is punishable by fine...

I wish I could take my crochet project with me - but the crochet hook is prohibited -- I guess it's a weapon. Looks like I'll be reading and sleeping.

Please let me NOT get selected for a jury.

If you're not around for awhile, we'll know you did get selected and got sequestered.  

[Miss Tequila]

I only was selected once. I was pregnant with my first and was about 7 months pregnant. I had sciatica and was going to the specialist every other week and that was not enough to get me out of it. However, my ex's boss was well connected and he made one phone call. A few days later I got a letter in the mail that I was excused. My oldest turned 18 in January and I haven't been called since

[Rob Base 2.0]

This is one of the reasons that I don't vote. I never been called. That's my interesting jury duty story--that I don't have one since I never been called.

[Anne_in_VA]

I think jury duty rolls are taken from DMV in VA.  I 've gotten called several times and served on a couple of juries.  When I lived in CT it seemed I got called up every year.

[shanendoah]

I will say, I believe very strongly in the necessity for citizen juries. I have also served (on a criminal case that was as fascinating in what they didn't present as what they did, but was ultimately decided by a surveillance video). It was not a great time for me to be serving. I'd been at my current position just over 4 months, was in danger of losing the position (and did 2 months later) and the Friday in the middle of the trial was actually the day we adopted our daughter (no criminal court on Fridays, though). Oh, and it was right before Thanksgiving. If we had taken longer to come to our verdict, we would have had to come back after the Thanksgiving break.

But, especially in criminal matters, people deserve juries that have intelligent, thoughtful people. Juries are made better by having people from a number of different background and life experiences. We have a terrible rate in this country of over convicting minorities, and under convicting "white" people. We are more likely to convict men than women. We over-convict (like 80% - it's really ridiculous) on cases of sexual assault against children, and under-convict (like 20% - again, really ridiculous) on cases of sexual assault against grown women. 
There are all sorts of biases that can come in the form of juries. But they are more likely to show up the more homogeneous the jury is. The more diverse the group of people - and that includes diversity of life experience, education levels, etc - the better outcome we get. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Mar 21, 2017 12:39:42 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

I will say, I believe very strongly in the necessity for citizen juries. I have also served (on a criminal case that was as fascinating in what they didn't present as what they did, but was ultimately decided by a surveillance video). It was not a great time for me to be serving. I'd been at my current position just over 4 months, was in danger of losing the position (and did 2 months later) and the Friday in the middle of the trial was actually the day we adopted our daughter (no criminal court on Fridays, though). Oh, and it was right before Thanksgiving. If we had taken longer to come to our verdict, we would have had to come back after the Thanksgiving break.

But, especially in criminal matters, people deserve juries that have intelligent, thoughtful people. Juries are made better by having people from a number of different background and life experiences. We have a terrible rate in this country of over convicting minorities, and under convicting "white" people. We are more likely to convict men than women. We over-convict (like 80% - it's really ridiculous) on cases of sexual assault against children, and under-convict (like 20% - again, really ridiculous) on cases of sexual assault against grown women. 
There are all sorts of biases that can come in the form of juries. But they are more likely to show up the more homogeneous the jury is. The more diverse the group of people - and that includes diversity of life experience, education levels, etc - the better outcome we get. 

When I went through voir dire, both lawyers did their damnedest to get the most homogeneous jury they could.  I was the 26th juror of the 35 called into the room.  2 jurors after I was questioned, both lawyers said that they had enough for a jury and that they didn't need to question anymore jurors.

The jury was all Hispanic (this was in San Antonio, so not impossible), no more than a HS education, had lived only in San Antonio their entire life, 'blue collar' workers, had not traveled outside the state of TX and had kids.  After about the 6 juror called, I could see the pattern emerging so I knew that I was not going to be selected.  I wasn't.  From what I could tell, they profiled the jury to as close to the defendant as they could get, homogeneity be damned! 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

One of the admins I used to work with lived in a small town outside of Lexington and was called for jury duty.  The way it worked in this town was that you were called for jury duty for 2 weeks.  Each morning by 8am, you had to call in to see if they needed you that day.  So you never knew when you were going to be on the hook.  If they needed you, you needed to be down to the courthouse by 9 - otherwise, you could go to work.

[muttleynfelix]

Not my story, but my dad's business partner. There were only 3 of them in the company. He lived in far western LA Salle County Illinois which is the Chicago district of the Federal courts. He was summoned for jury duty in a high profile racketeering case expected to last 6+ months. He had to go to initial screening, but it would have killed him and the company financially. Plus it is 100+ miles one way from his house! Thankfully they didn't select him.

[Tiny]

Well, I survived... the drive was less - 50 minutes there and then 40 minutes home (I was able to do 75 on the expressway!!!  for part of the way).

The jury room had the most uncomfortable "installed" seating - thankfully they had movable chairs and tables - I started out in the 'fixed' seating and moved to a chair. I also took a chance and took my crochet needle, little scissors, and yarn... and no one said a word when it went thru the x-ray machine- so that was a huge plus. 


It was a long boring day... but it's over and I have my check for $17 or so...


(They had Jerry Springer or Maury Povich? on the TV... and people where laughing... I didn't realize these shows were suppose to be funny... I just turned up my headphones to drowned out the screeching of two women on the show and then again when two guys were screaming and swearing at each other...   I don't get the attraction of these shows.)   

[sesfw]

It's been several years since I've had a jury duty notice.  Last time I had to call a local number after 5pm to see if my group was needed for the next session ......... not needed

Times before that it was for DUIs and during questioning I was asked how I felt about drinking and driving.  My answer ......... I think anyone convicted of drunk driving should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon ....... I was excused without comment.

Now I think I'm old enough to not be summoned any more.

[wvugurl26]

I've never been called. I have heard that defense attorneys don't like people in my line of work. Then again my coworker was picked for jury duty in Baltimore city.