Jury Duty

[DietCokeLover]

Any tips for how to NOT be selected for jury duty? I am self employed and make 75% of our family income. If I don’t work, we don’t eat/live. I can’t be committed to a jury for 4 months. How do I get out of this?

[marymoo86]

Not sure where you are but when I was recently called for service, the lawyers and judge questioned all jurors and if there was a hardship to be called, it was noted and the juror was excused.

There were about 50 in my group and they had seated the 12 plus 2 alternates before they had gotten half way down the pool. I was sweating it but didn't get called.

Other folks were dismissed based on potential bias to the case. For instance, a mall theft and any security folks, retail folks were dismissed without question.

[bisous]

I'm sure this varies by area but here in my county, the best way to avoid jury duty is to select Friday for your service because you can either wait for your number to be called up or you can pick a day to come in. Fridays have very little activity in the courtroom and therefore a smaller probability of being selected for jury service. The Friday that I served had hundreds of people waiting in the jury room and honestly don't think there were any calls for jurors at all. We were dismissed at 3 in the afternoon.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'm sure this varies by area but here in my county, the best way to avoid jury duty is to select Friday for your service because you can either wait for your number to be called up or you can pick a day to come in. Fridays have very little activity in the courtroom and therefore a smaller probability of being selected for jury service. The Friday that I served had hundreds of people waiting in the jury room and honestly don't think there were any calls for jurors at all. We were dismissed at 3 in the afternoon.

It doesn't work like that at all in our state. You don't get to pick the date. You are assigned a specific date and that's it.

OP- you can ask to be excused. That may or may not be granted. Your situation isn't unique so I wouldn't expect to be excused. However, when I had jury duty once I was actually on call as the care provider for my friend's son when she went into labor- she was due any day. I was the only person to help her so the judge put me in the selection group for shortest trial they had going on. I spent 1 full day and 1 half day total fulfilling my jury duty.

The next time I was called, I sat in the waiting lounge all morning, got dismissed for lunch, came back, sat for 10 more minutes and our whole group was excused. No one talked to me, it was super easy! I feel bad because half the group had to sit in the courtroom quietly while the rest of us had lively conversations in the lounge.

[sariana]

Well, you could walk in and proudly announce, "I can tell if someone's guilty just by looking at him (or her)!" That ought to get you dismissed.

[bisous]

Well, you could walk in and proudly announce, "I can tell if someone's guilty just by looking at him (or her)!" That ought to get you dismissed.

Or along those lines can you wear your Princess Leia costume?

[SnuggleBuggles]

Or along those lines can you wear your Princess Leia costume?

I’m down with your 30 Rock reference!!


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[mmsmom]

In two states I’ve lived in you did not have to serve if you were responsible for childcare. So even when my kids were older I was able to use that as an excuse as they were in school 8:30-4:00 but jury hours were 8:00-5:00. So I would just put on the form that I didn’t have childcare coverage and would be excused. Not all states offer excuses for childcare though and if you normally work jury hours and have childcare you can not be excused.

[elbert]

Well, you could walk in and proudly announce, "I can tell if someone's guilty just by looking at him (or her)!" That ought to get you dismissed.

I remember my middle school math teacher having jury duty and coming back, telling us he told them he didn’t like men with long hair and that he was excused because of that. I don’t necessarily endorse that approach...particularly telling a bunch of kids that afterwards!


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[DualvansMommy]

In two states I’ve lived in you did not have to serve if you were responsible for childcare. So even when my kids were older I was able to use that as an excuse as they were in school 8:30-4:00 but jury hours were 8:00-5:00. So I would just put on the form that I didn’t have childcare coverage and would be excused. Not all states offer excuses for childcare though and if you normally work jury hours and have childcare you can not be excused.

In my area; I’ve known some moms not being excused for that. Especially if it’s a short trial. Longer lengthy trails, they do accept burden of childcare to be excused though. So interesting to see all the regional differences.


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