Not Needed for Jury Duty

[Shorty]

Inconvenient as it can be, the privilege of serving on a jury - and your right to have a jury if you are on trial is one of the basic and most important parts of democracy. Like voting, it is a right that many in the world would almost die for. But, unfortunately, In the U.S., it seems that bit by bit, those who have the most to gain by these things seem the most willing to devalue it. (Noone here.)

I was once  roundly dressed down by a magistrate when I attempted to get out of jury duty  - fort a very valid reason.  People died for the privilege etc. etc. On reflection, I realised that he was quite correct. 

Edited May 24, 2018 by Shorty

[Hardspoon]

I’ve only been notified for jury duty once, and there was no way my workload would have allowed me to serve. I wrote a letter and was excused.

I have enough quirky viewpoints on our criminal justice system that I doubt I’d ever make it through initial selection anyway.

[Valleygolfer]

On 5/23/2018 at 2:35 PM, BaconNEggs said:

I've had it twice. The first time, about ten years ago, I was put onto a jury with about 15 other people, and then a few of us were culled by the defense.

The other time was last year. It involved a drunk driving death (and fleeing scene), and the majority of witnesses were police officers and other first responders. The judge asked each juror if they had any bias for or against law enforcement and I told them that I am hesitant to take the word of police without corroborating evidence-- not that I don't inherently believe the police are lying, but that there is a strong history of them doing so to protect each other (the "blue wall of silence"). I don't think it was actually relevant to this case, but I was just answering his question truthfully. I was dismissed. They said the case was going to last up to 2-3 weeks, which boggled my mind, since it seemed pretty open and shut (a drunk driver got in an accident on the highway, killing his passenger-- he then fled the scene).

I wondered if they would react this way to this type of opinion.

21 hours ago, Shorty said:

Inconvenient as it can be, the privilege of serving on a jury - and your right to have a jury if you are on trial is one of the basic and most important parts of democracy. Like voting, it is a right that many in the world would almost die for. But, unfortunately, In the U.S., it seems that bit by bit, those who have the most to gain by these things seem the most willing to devalue it. (Noone here.)

I was once  roundly dressed down by a magistrate when I attempted to get out of jury duty  - fort a very valid reason.  People died for the privilege etc. etc. On reflection, I realised that he was quite correct. 

Court system here is clownish at best. Hate to think people died for this.

[Papa Steve 55]

I was self employed. I live near Boston. I was working in Albany NY when I got called. We call the day before to find out if you need to report, I called and was told I did. I explained that I was 3 hours away but got the "sorry, see you tomorrow". So I gave up the days pay and drove home. Went the court house and was promptly told I was not needed. I told them how I lost a days pay for this, and was told as I am self employed I should "pay myself". I told her next time you need me, send the state police for me.

[billchao]

I have jury duty tomorrow. I thought I served within the last 3 years so I should be exempt, but apparently the burden of proof is on me and I tossed my summons long ago. Live and learn.

[billchao]

15 hours ago, billchao said:

I have jury duty tomorrow. I thought I served within the last 3 years so I should be exempt, but apparently the burden of proof is on me and I tossed my summons long ago. Live and learn.

So I went down there and told the lady at registration that I thought I served less than three years ago. She sent me to a window where the clerk there looked me up, and indeed I did serve in 2016 so I was free to go. She told me apparently that I was supposed to let them know I had served when I filled out the online questionnaire and I told her I didn't see a question or section about that, to which she replied by saying I was just supposed to tell them in a comment box or something. Somehow I was expected to know that. At least they weren't going to demolish my planet to make way for an intergalactic bypass.

[nevets88]

1 minute ago, billchao said:

So I went down there and told the lady at registration that I thought I served less than three years ago. She sent me to a window where the clerk there looked me up, and indeed I did serve in 2016 so I was free to go. She told me apparently that I was supposed to let them know I had served when I filled out the online questionnaire and I told her I didn't see a question or section about that, to which she replied by saying I was just supposed to tell them in a comment box or something. Somehow I was expected to know that. At least they weren't going to demolish my planet to make way for an intergalactic bypass.

63

[Shindig]

7 minutes ago, billchao said:

At least they weren't going to demolish my planet to make way for an intergalactic bypass.

 You may think it's a long way down the road to the jury box, but that's just peanuts to space