Jury Duty

[kdonnel]

For those who were screened, but dismissed for whatever reason - were you done after that and didn't have to call or show up again during that time period?

For the county I live in the expectation is one day or one trial.

You report Monday. The vast majority of people get dismissed before the end of Monday.

 

[princesscinderella]

For those who were screened, but dismissed for whatever reason - were you done after that and didn't have to call or show up again during that time period?

In my case yes once we were dismissed we were done. Sometimes where we are you are selected as a call in or show up in person on a specific date. My husband has gotten the call in the night before to see if you have to show up but it was only one day specific day, not every day for a period of time like yours. It definitely seems crazy long to be on the hook to have to drop everything and show up at the courthouse.

There are very strict laws surrounding jury duty and employment. Your new employer could get in trouble for rescinding an offer of employment based on your requirement to serve on a jury. The timing does stink though.

 

[Keladry84]

I have to report for jury duty tomorrow morning. It’s only the second time I’ll actually have to report….will be interesting.

 

[tvguy]

I don't believe it should be public information. Just like I don't care what the defendants name is because it does not matter to the case or the outcome. I should be deciding on the facts. My name, address, my children's names ... have nothing to do with the case and should not be public.

I can understand that. Unfortunately that is not currently how our legal system works.

 

[tvguy]

From @fla4fun 's original post

Then we get called into a courtroom and we each had to stand and give our full name and address . . . with defendants in the courtroom who were on trial for kidnapping across state lines and battery on the victim.

Yes I saw that. The Constitution guarantees you the right to trial by your peers. And that means they have a right to know who is deciding their guilt of innocence.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I’ve been called twice, once for Federal and once for county. The Federal, I called nightly and never had to appear. The county, I was selected for a jury. It was a case involving a person who said she slipped on standing water inside a local store. We found in favor of the store.

Interestingly, even though we served, the jury I was on still had to show up for the jury pool for the next two weeks after our trial. We were at the bottom of the pool list and once the jury was picked, we were dismissed. I was glad I didn’t get picked for the last jury because it involved domestic rape and assault.

 

[sam_gordon]

I've been on jury duty once. Had to call the night before (every day) to find out whether to report the following day. One time I had to report. Never got to voir dire. This was over 20 years ago. Since we moved (in 2002), neither DW nor I have been called. We're registered to vote, and have DLs. Probably just jinxed it.

 

[tony67]

We are one day one trial, and you can defer once - you cant change which court though.
That's my biggest issue is they don't always send you to a local court - so my wife had to travel to a very bad area for the day that is not easy to get to.

I was glad I didn’t get picked for the last jury because it involved domestic rape and assault.

Yeah, I had a simar issue. Id did not feel I could be objective as it was his young daughter and the lived within a mile of me in a place I knew was very bad so I was able to go back to the jury pool.

Yes I saw that. The Constitution guarantees you the right to trial by your peers. And that means they have a right to know who is deciding their guilt of innocence.

Yeah, another reason I was concerned. They may not bother you during the case as that would be jury tampering, but don't be surprised if there are issues after you find them guilty, especially when their friends and family are within a mile of your home. Best you can hope for is they plea out, which happens quite a bit as I understand it.

 

[fla4fun]

You realize that is all public information?

But someone would have to look for it rather than specifically saying it in front of those in the courtroom.

My issue with it was they could be scoping out their next victim, and pay close attention to where that particular person lived. Just because my name and address are public information doesn’t mean the public knows who I am or where I live when I walk down the street.

 

[fla4fun]

For those who were screened, but dismissed for whatever reason - were you done after that and didn't have to call or show up again during that time period?

When I had federal jury duty I still had to call in every day, but my number never came up again after that first day. For local, I have always been dismissed for that summons if I was questioned, but not picked. If I wasn’t questioned, there were a couple of times I had to call in a second day, but I haven’t had to report for a second day yet.

 

[tvguy]

My issue with it was they could be scoping out their next victim, and pay close attention to where that particular person lived. Just because my name and address are public information doesn’t mean the public knows who I am or where I live when I walk down the street.

Certainly a concern. I had someone break into my car in my driveway 30 years ago, and they got caught and my property (my cell phone) recovered. But it cost me $250 to fix the door they pried open. I got a form asking if I would like restitution from the suspect after they were convicted. Nope. They clearly know where I live, maybe not the exact address, but the exact location. Restitution could bring retaliation. I moved on.

 

[_19disnA]

Likely the rules for how long you might be involved vary by county or state. I was chosen once a number of years ago and the process was you had to call some phone # daily to see if your assigned number was in the selected group. Believe I had to do that for one week. One day my number was called and those of us in the pool sat around in a waiting area to see if we would actually be needed for any of the trials that day. Was never called and then around noon, they told us we were done and could go home. The whole process seemed inefficient and wasted a lot of time for those involved. How long you are on-call probably depends on where you live and how many other people are in the mix along with the number of cases being tried.

Rules on how to defer probably also vary. They likely don't want people calling to say they are 'busy', but if your job involves international travel and you are going to be out of the country, I would suspect they would reschedule you to a future date.

 

[tvguy]

We are one day one trial, and you can defer once - you cant change which court though.
That's my biggest issue is they don't always send you to a local court - so my wife had to travel to a very bad area for the day that is not easy to get to.


Yeah, I had a simar issue. Id did not feel I could be objective as it was his young daughter and the lived within a mile of me in a place I knew was very bad so I was able to go back to the jury pool.

Yeah, another reason I was concerned. They may not bother you during the case as that would be jury tampering, but don't be surprised if there are issues after you find them guilty, especially when their friends and family are within a mile of your home. Best you can hope for is they plea out, which happens quite a bit as I understand it.

Like I posted, it could be a concern. But only if the defendant is smart enough to think to seek you out.

 

[leebee]

I was called last May but was able to be deferred as I had knee surgery scheduled. They said they'd put me in the December pool, but so far I have heard nothing. I wouldn't mind serving, but I suspect that, based on my job (I'm a scientist/chemist, I know how all those analytical methods that are used on physical evidence work and the odds of false positives, etc), most attorneys wouldn't want me on a jury. That's what I'm hoping, at least!

 

[3rd_time_the_charm]

Anyhoo, moving away from yet another hill nobody else cares to die on...thanks for the replies! Hopefully I will know for sure this week. Thanks!

 

[Allison]

I probably didn't word it well - if you have to call in for multiple days/weeks and you have to show and you get rejected as a juror do you still have to call in for that period? I would love to serve/get rejected day 1 and not have to call for two months lol.

We can't answer that for you. This is based on your location.

You are making this a bigger deal than it is. There are accommodations made for work obligations, health, vacations, etc. You need to read up on the rules for your area.

 

[Allison]

Anyhoo, moving away from yet another hill nobody else cares to die on...t

What does that mean?

 

[tvguy]

I was called last May but was able to be deferred as I had knee surgery scheduled. They said they'd put me in the December pool, but so far I have heard nothing. I wouldn't mind serving, but I suspect that, based on my job (I'm a scientist/chemist, I know how all those analytical methods that are used on physical evidence work and the odds of false positives, etc), most attorneys wouldn't want me on a jury. That's what I'm hoping, at least!

Keep hoping because you could be the VERY person they ARE looking for. In my case, the Plaintiff's attorney had worked in the past for a firm that my mother in law was the Office Manager for and he had been at my wedding. I disclosed that, he disclosed that, and neither Defense attorney nor the Judge had an issue with that. I was the 11th person called to the Jury Box and the only one of those first 12 not excused and they called up 49 of the original 50 people sent to that court room before the 15 people they wanted including alternates, so as one of my fellow jurors noted, they CLEARLY wanted me on that panel.
And a co-worker who was an on air person tried to get off a jury in a criminal case by insisting that "if that guy is here, he must be guilty" repeatedly when questioned. That prompted an "offer" of a free night in jail on Contempt charges from the Judge, a mention of the incident in the newspaper TV column, and a one day suspension without pay when he got done with the trial for putting the TV station in a bad light in the community.

 

[3rd_time_the_charm]

Well, that was easy easy. I guess living in a tiny city plus being respectful works. I emailed the Clerk of Court last night and she just responded I've been deferred until May. Woot!

Allison, I just meant regarding whether your personal info should be shared in front of defendants (which I agree shouldn't).

 

[sheilafri]

I was called for duty last year. The original dates really didn’t work so I just called the clerk and chose a different month. When it came around, I wanted to go away for a few days. Another call got me excused for that week. I never actually had to report. They’ve implemented a call in and notification system (after online questionnaire) which really makes things easy. YMMV