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...Cause I just got a fat envelope from the Saline County circuit judge. *shakes fist at government*
How silly is this? I'm nineteen and people are willing to trust me with the fate of a suspected convict?
Even if I joke about it, I'm really not okay with filling my questionnaire with stuff like "of course I'm a racist! Who isn't?" or something. However I think the fact that I'm a full time student at home trying to earn enough money to go to school is a good enough excuse to get out of it. Or at least it should be.
How about my buddies at the Rack? Have any of you had to fulfil your debt to the greater cause? Funny Stories?
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No, you don't. It is a complete interruption of your life. I managed to get it put off (thanks to a well written letter from the doctor I worked for at the time...."it would be too much of a loss to the practice at this time...." ) but the second time I had to go.
All that time off of work and circling downtown for a parking spot and for what?! I didn't even get chosen to serve on the jury!
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In a year's time, I won't be able to be called. (I'll finally have graduated from law school). So hopefully I'll get a letter in the meantime - let me pervert the course of justice!!
Or something like that.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I got called in when I was 19-20ish. It was an interesting experience, and it got me out of work. (I was not taking classes at the time.)
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I've gotten a juror summons every year since I turned 18. Although I've never even had to go sit at the courthouse for the day due to working out of the county (and living where I worked) or attending school full time 300 miles away.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I served on a Jury last fall for the first time in my life - it was the first time I'd ever been summoned even. I've been registered to vote for >20 years, so I felt like I was 'due'.
I was fortunate in that the trial was short, and I have a good job and did not suffer financially for missing work. I also more or less make my own hours, so I didn't have a lot of other hassles with work.
I enjoyed being exposed to the process, although if the trial had been much longer I probably wouldn't have. The day we went into deliberations, Michael Jackson's troubles started up again, and we were all very grateful that we didn't have to serve in THAT kind of case.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I also have a jury duty call for next week. I have to call a recorded message for instructions. I've never done this before.
A coworker got called and had to serve jury duty. The funny thing is, she's our cops and courts reporter and knows everybody, but she still had to serve. Weird.
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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My sister just got summoned for jury duty. She's almost 20. I haven't been called for it yet, though (and I'm 21).
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I've never been called and would actually like to be. Is it true that the names are pulled from registered voters?
Posts: 4292 | Registered: Jan 2001
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I am 24 and have never been called. Though even if I am called I doubt they will take me, I am working on my PhD in psychology and I have heard that prosecutions hate psychologists (I guess we are to likely to attribute crime to mental illness or something). If I do get chosen it won't be for a capital crime either...since I'll tell them I won't give someone the death penalty in almost any situation (a republican who hates the death penalty, go figure).
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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Your name was drawn for petit jury duty by a random process that assures a fair and impartial cross-section of the residents of this county.
Here's another part I found interesting:
Jury service in an inconvenience (well, nice to know they dont beat around the bush). However, it is an obligation and duty (if you don't serve on a jury you're a bad American!). No one but the Circuit Judge can excuse you from service (and I can't get a hold of him to save my life!).
Seriously. I thought Government offices ran from nine to five. I called as soon as I got the letter at 5:40 and noone was there! And I can't call sooner... I'll just have to call the Circuit Judge at home. I'll do it at about 7:00-7:30, right about the time he and his family would be eating dinner .
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote: However I think the fact that I'm a full time student at home trying to earn enough money to go to school is a good enough excuse to get out of it.
It probably isn't.
I was selected while attending college out of state. I had to write the court and provide proof (transcript I think) that I actually was attending school out of state. That basically gauranteed me a deferment until I was back in-state.
When they finally got around to assigning me a new trial date (2-3 years!!) it transformed into a state court trial (instead of county) and I had to drive 2 hours to the capital. I was looking forward to it (unemployed at the time) but I wasn't selected, wasn't even asked any questions. Jury pool was filled before my number popped up.
Good Luck! and if you do get chosen enjoy it. Most citizens never experience the American legal system...and its much better to see it from the jury side than the other side Posts: 349 | Registered: Feb 2004
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The judge in our case made it very clear that economic hardships would not get us out of serving. He stated specifically that jury duty is a sacrifice and that if they only selected jurors who could afford to be there, that wouldn't be representative of the defendant's peers.
There was one fellow in the pool who was a sweet potato farmer from Molokai. He was excused (by the prosecutor) since it was the week before Thanksgiving and the busiest time of the year for him. But they didn't excuse him until they learned that his was a small family farm and his young son would have to be in charge while he was away on another island.
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I had a friend in college who got jury duty 3 times while he was in college and each time it happened during finals weeks and they wouldn't excuse him. On the 3rd time, he ripped up his voter's registration card in front of the judge in protest and almost got hit with contempt of court.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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ouchies! My mom always said the few times she got called to jury duty she could get out of it by saying she had six kids.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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My ma and I lost count of how many summons have appeared in her mailbox with my name on them. She keeps writing back that I'm in the military. I guess they have a hard time figuring it out.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I'm 43 and have never been called to jury duty. I think that is very strange, as my sister has been called more than once. I am a registered voter, a licensed driver, and have lived in the same place forever, but they haven't ever called me. I did receive a jury summons ONCE -- but it was for the wrong county! (I live a mile from the county line) for that trial you had to live in that county, and I called and told them I didn't live in the county, so they just had me send it back.
Of course, not that I would ever probably be picked for a criminal trial jury -- what with being the daughter of a cop, they don't consider me "impartial"
But I could be chosen for a civil suit trial.
Farmgirl (p.s. We have a "Saline County" in Kansas, too, SarcasticMuppet. So I did a double-take)
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Before I started law school (which pretty much means no jury duty ever), I had a possibility of getting picked for criminal but would likely have never been picked for a civil trial. Plaintiff's attorney's hate business owners in most tort cases.
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I've been summoned twice so far (I'm 26) and have been excused both times. The first time I was in school and had been summoned for the week of finals, the second time (last year), I claimed financial hardship (since I would not be reimbursed by work for any of my time and the something silly like $5/day the county pays you would be a joke).
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I got summoned last year while I had mono. That pretty much did the trick, and we moved so I had to re-register for voting. Moving a lot helps with avoidance, but now that we have a house I guess our odds have just gone up for serving. I wouldn't mind. I think my company lets me have the days off with pay so it isn't that big of deal.
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I have been called twice in the last few years. The first time I was able to postpone serving because I was still nursing Mooselet. The second time I served (but was not put on a jury) I was VERY pregnant with Superstation. I received a lot of understanding looks from the ladies who worked in the jury room.
Posts: 399 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I've always thought it would be interesting as well. Lived in the same place for 10 years and was never called.
I ... uh... know someone... who's significant other was called ... and they filled out the form explaining that with his own business he wouldn't be able to participate... and since they were so persuaded by their own excuse... they didn't even send it back in...
I mean, that's what Aphu did on the Simpson's, so it must be okay, right?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I was on a jury for a civil trial last year. It wasn't too bad, since it got me out of work for a couple of days. I even got to have lunch with my wife, which is a rarity during the week. The trial itself, though, was kind of a ridiculous experience.
It was about a car accident, trying to decide which party was at fault. Each side had an accident reconstruction expert. The plaintiff had a mechanical engineer who said that he didn't need to visit the accident site or interview the two parties; he just extracted the data he needed from the damage to the two vehicles. The defendant's side had a retired police officer. He had very little technical data (and what data he had was very qualitative) and talked about "human factors." In the end, despite the fact that I tried to explain some of the science to the other jurors, none of them trusted the engineer. It was kind of shocking to me how distrustful of science people are. Ten out of the group of twelve went with the cop's explanation because they trusted "human factors" to be less fallible than mathematics. Amazing.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I had been summoned for jury duty. The attorneys were interviewing us to decide who they wanted on their jury. It was a rape case involving a child.
I was asked the question: "Does the fact that you have daughters change how you would feel about the severity of the punishment in a rape case?"
I said something along the lines of "no, I don't think capital punishment after painful castration is too severe."
Needless to say, I was not selected to the jury. Funny, .... I've also never been summoned since then (and that was about 15 years ago).
Posts: 279 | Registered: May 2004
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) but the second time I had to go. ![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
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