I've finally been served

[Pixie]

I have jury duty starting next week. Sure am glad the week is slow with appointments. Called last night to see if I have to be at court on Monday......lucky me, no court. Do you think I'll be that lucky all week??? LOL NOPE!!

This will be my first time being on jury duty, not bad for being 60 yrs old. Not really looking forward to it. If I have to show up it means I have to get up early and take hubby to work (sometimes as early at 4 am).

[celebpet]

Not to suggest you should avoid your civic duties, but I got served when I was attending grooming school. I called them and told them I was out of town going to school during the week and would not be able to serve and that It would be a finacial hardship for me to withdraw to serve. They simply asked for me to write them a letter and they notified me the next day letting me know that I was excused from Jury Duty.

If you feel that it will finacially impact your family or cause your business to fail you can probably get out of serving.

[BeeJL]

There aren't too many people where I live so we take a turn every two years or so. There aren't too many trials either so we usually don't have to go in. One time there was a trial and I was asked to be removed by the defendant's attorney. He was my divorce attorney and knew how I felt about deadbeat alcoholics who have an aversion to work.

[furrybestjob]

Wow! You have to call every day for a week to see if you have to go? Here, your jury duty date is one date. You call the night before and if you're excused, you're "sentence" lol is done.

[RudyRoo]

I got called last year for a death penalty murder case. We had to sit there all morning, about 300 of us & nobody wanted to be on the jury,, lots of people, me included thought it would be hard to have to make the choice about the death penlty. While we were sitting there, the guy pleaded guilty in exchance for a life sentence. If it had gone to trail, the jury would have been sequestered in a hotel for the duration of the trial. I was freaking about not being able to work and who was gonna take care of my 4 pets.

[Fairierose]

Here your on "call" so to speak for three months. The only time I got a jury duty notice I was 6 months pregnant. Yeah, didn't work out too well.

[Doubledogdare]

I just tell them whatever I figure they really don't want to hear and would make either side think I would be a prejudicial loose cannon in the jury box.

It works.

[PuppyFluffer]

I just tell them whatever I figure they really don't want to hear and would make either side think I would be a prejudicial loose cannon in the jury box.

It works.

Me, too. Last time I got called for jury duty I ended up at the Oakland, CA Superior Court. Went out at lunchtime intent on finding my car and grabbing a smoke. Come to find out, my car had been stolen while I was in the courthouse. While I was in a phonebooth making the police report, a hand reached past my shoulder and stole my purse! I went back into the courthouse where I had left my sack lunch and...you guessed it. Somebody stole my damn lunch. By the time I was called, I was in no mood to be fair and impartial. Made up a pack of lies that I thought would fit the situation and was immediately excused.

Oakland sucks.

[Windswept]

In L. A. County ...

the financial hardship excuse will probably be denied no matter what you say, plus you're threatened with a fine and/or incarceration if you don't respond to their stupid mass mailing summons.

Please forgive me, but jury service is a sore subject for me. At the time I was summoned, I was having a real tough time financially and couldn't take the time to serve. I made phone calls and wrote many letters to my congressman, the county supervisor, the jury commissioner and the jury supervisor all of who were very effective in down playing my concerns or passing the buck.

Like you, I was called off during the week and lost much needed income. On Friday, I was finally called in at 2:00 PM to a court location in an area renowned for criminal activity. When I checked in, I was told that the panel selection would meet the following week. I told the supervisor that I couldn't appear because I scheduled my clients for the following week and had to re-schedule for the longest extended possible date. When I left, I was caught in rush hour, bumper to bumper traffic all the way home. Needless to say, I was very angry and wrote yet another letter to the jury commisioner, bitterly complaining about their incompetent jury selection system.

Over a period of several months, I changed venues and re-scheduled jury panel dates. By then, I had run out of options and had no other recourse than to appear before the court for the customary voi dire (I'm not sure how that's spelled) where the judge will put you through a questionnaire about how you feel about law enforcement, the court system (and the case presented), the prosecution and the defense.

I didn't skip a beat, I voiced bias with every question presented, threw people under the bus and said ANYTHING that I thought would assist in my expulsion from the panel. When we had a break, I submitted a handwritten note to the judge to PLEASE excuse me from jury service and claimed financial hardship once again (along with a copy of my letter to the jury commisioner that related my own itemized financial obligations). Thankfully, I think he realized that I wanted out of jury service in the worse way and he let me off for a whole year. Whoopee.

I don't want to suggest denying your civic duty, however in my case, it was imperative for me to get out of jury service because I couldn't take the time off to do it. You can go to the internet and look up the "10 Ways To Get out Of Jury Service" or if you have a medical problem, you might get an exaggerated doctors' excuse (if your doctor will work with you) to back you up when you receive the summons. But here in LA county, it's a fact: they don't care about you or believe you. I figure it works both ways.

Good Luck!

[Jenneversage64]

Tell them a groomer

cut off your dogs' second pair of ears and it is so traumatic for you that you can't cope right now. LOL

[Lucy in the Sky]

The whole jury trial procedure needs to be rewritten. When the founding fathers came up with the concept, trials didn't take this long, there was not so much science and "expert" testimony. That said, it is part of the right of being an American citizen.
Personally, I like the song "Beer for my Horses"- we need to get back to simpler justice. There is no stigma in crime anymore. You get an attorney and you get a plea and off you go to bigger and better crimes.
If it were not a financial issue, how many of you would actually like to serve?

[brownlikewoah]

I got picked for jury duty last year, and got picked for the case. It was actually pretty interesting! Our case was about a sex offender who failed to register. My Bf's dad is on a case right now, and has been for over a week now. He is really into the case and won't tell anyone what it is about, but whatever it is, it must be something important to go on for that long.

[Pixie]

Well I called tonight to see if I had to appear tomorrow morning.....yes I do. Maybe if I'm not picked to be on a jury tomorrow I'll be done with the whole thing and be off rest of the week. I just don't know how it really works.
My daughter showed up for her jury duty, wasn't put on a jury and was let go. Didn't have to come back rest of the week. All I can do is hope.

[Pixie]

Well I got to sit on the jury.
Didn't last very long at all.
The new jury was taken to the jury room so we could make phone calls and what ever needed to be done before the thing started. Guess we were in the jury room for at least 30 min. We were then asked to out to sit in the jury seats. We sat down, the judge told us the "bad" guy plead guilty and we were done!!!
I don't think I have ever seen 8 people move so fast!