Jury Duty - If you have a way out, do you take it?

[Bisch]

I have been called twice in the last couple years. Once was for a grand jury. I was very concerned about my hearing loss causing me to not be able to keep up with things. I expressed this to the judge and he excused me. I would have liked to have done it, but would hate worse having to make a decision when I didn’t hear everything that was said.

The second time was for a regular jury. That one was cancelled, so I didn’t have to get excused from it.

Bisch


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[bbbuck]

Personally I have been on two cases one civil and the other criminal. The selection process is not fun, but being a juror was satisfying. By the way both turned out guilty.

[TX CHICKEN]

Do it. I got called up and spent a few days hearing a case and was picked to be the foreman. It was a civil case with a lady claiming injuries in a car accident. It was very interesting to see it all play out and made me stronger believer in our system.

[hully1029]

I was on a jury pool maybe 10-15 years ago for DWI. Did not have my uniform on but….



During the voir dire, The defense attorney called me out as being a police officer in front of the rest of the jury pool and the purpose was to use me as part of his defense against a state trooper.



He asked me if I was familiar with standardize field sobriety testing. Yes, I am familiar with and certified in SFST. He got almost giddy after that. Oh, since you are certified do you know how many tests are supposed to be performed? Sure, the battery includes three tests, the walk in turn, the one leg stand and horizontal gaze nystagmus.



Then I thought he was going to pass out and was so excited. His opening statement in the vour dire was that the trooper was unprofessional and did not do his job correctly. So he asked me (and I thought this was improper and surprised the DA did not object) if the trooper did not perform all three tests, was he acting unprofessionally? I glanced at the judge and the DA and said, do you really want me to explain to the jury pool why he did not perform all three tests?



He said no further questions and then went on with his question for the group and ignored me from that point.



Apparently he did not want me to say, the reason that the trooper could not do the one leg stand and walking and turn was the guy was so intoxicated that he would fall down and hurt himself.

Haha.. classic.

I know going in uniform is always a calculated risk, for that exact reason. But I've been real lucky so far.

I've been asked if would, due to my career, naturally side with the arresting officer. I responded "yes." I was told I could immediately be dismissed.. lol

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[Jon Stewart]

Well if you get called to jury and don't show up there may be a warrant for show cause for you. So for those that just said screw it and stayed home you may want to check. A late night traffic stop could be troublesome. Like an arrest and vehicle impound for starters.

I have been called in several times knowing that I would never sit on a panel but had to go and wait until a jury was selected. The only way I would have been called would be on a civil trial.

[Stan R]

It is one of the most important things you can do besides voting. We send out 300 jury summons and less than 20% of the people show up.

[IOWA BOW HUNTER]

I am just curious, I have not been summoned for JD. If you have a way out of jury duty, would you take it when you otherwise could be there but you just don't want to go? If you salary is covered at work, you have childcare, everything is taken care of...would you still use an exemption to get out?

Personally I want to go. If I could make it work, I would want to go.

Ive had jury duty twice in my live (I am 25). First summon notice was 1 week after my 18 birthday and got me out of highschool during finals week.....that really stunk having to study for test and take them on my weekends off to catch up. Second notice I was 22 in college and expected to come back in the middle of the week and cover the entire 4 hour drive (thats only one way only) gas bill, plus miss school I am paying for. In both cases I didnt get selected but had to show up for three - four day selection process. Point I am getting at was I have had a bad experience with the court system. They didnt work with me what so ever on my schedule and to be honest wasted my time. One case was a lawsuit the other was a minor refusing to breathalyze. I did my duty as a citizen but it could of gone way smoother.

I know I will take some heat for my answer but next time I may be more prone to look for the escape rope given my past experiences.

[AtTheWall]

Never called or summoned

Retired CWO - US Armed Services

Those before me - all foreigners - first born American with my last name

Sisters haven't been summoned as well - two of the three - different last names due to marriage. Under their married names - nothing as well. One of the two - ex CIA and the other - tied to Ford Motor Company - Executives since the 1950s (Married name now).

Do not think I will ever be called - 61 years old now.

There must be a formula - I do not fit the mold nor do any of my direct siblings and or parents - lotta decades = never.

Texas born and raised - first born American of my last name = and it isn't common since it's OLD COUNTRY.


There is a filter - if you are summoned - best for the rest of us - if you hang out here to on a PRO HUNTING WEB SITE =SERVE!


We represent a shrinking society - hunters and no BS GOVN control in our daily lives.


Today - please go if you are summoned - we need OUR CLAN TO REPRESENT!

.2

[gingib]

Yes i do!

[SabreKiller]

Not me. I consider it not only my civic duty, but a privilege to serve. I've only been chosen twice. Once for grand jury and once for a civil trial where I got nominated as jury foreman.

[3whunt]

I used to be the do my civic duty guy.
Sat on three juries and found out our system isn't right. Most of the time you go waste at least half a day just so some crappy defense attorney can ask you some irrelevant question and dismiss you or you get dismissed because the defendant cut a plea deal at the last minute.
If you actually sit then you are gonna face a fight with the bleeding hearts on the jury who think the video, the witnesses and the cop are just targeting a poor misunderstood person who hasn't had a fair shake in life just to get a conviction and not half the time they deserve.
I've done my duty. I would take any excuse I could to avoid it.

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100%. It’s the peers that I don’t want to deal with. Half of them don’t care about facts. They disregard what’s right from wrong when it comes time to discipline somebody. No wonder these generations are going to poop. It’s the **** parents (peers). I thoroughly enjoyed every other aspect. Perp still plead out at 1 am cause of the bleeding heart jurors.

[CaptainDave]

Been summoned a few times and each time went into the panel discussion with the prosecutor and defense attorneys, but have never been picked.

I've got no problem with someone taking a way out of jury duty if they legitimately meet any of the exemption criteria. What I do have a problem with is people that lie about it or simply throw out their summons. Seems selfish to believe your time is more valuable than anyone else that showed up.

Yes, I agree that going in can be a pain and the process itself isn't very efficient.

As for the summons process, I believe it's random and the pool of candidates comes from both Driver license and Voter registration. With that said, a judge told me once that if you feel like you get called more than others, double check your name on both your DL and Voter registration. If your name is even slightly different between these two, you will be in the system twice.