Jury Duty

[mushmouth]

It is a colossal waste of human resource.

Wrong, but it might just feel that way because you sound like you think of human's time as a commodity which should be utilized for production. It is the involvement of citizen's in the judicial process which keeps it as honest as it can be.

[Hugh Conway]

Bump.

I just got my summons for jury duty. I am having a hard time taking time off work to ski right now since I am broke and actually have work (for a change), so I can't take time off for this shit. Anyone have legit ideas on how to get out of even showing up?

my slacker landlord "had to take care of a housebound relative" once it works once, it always works

Wrong, but it might just feel that way because you sound like you think of human's time as a commodity which should be utilized for production. It is the involvement of citizen's in the judicial process which keeps it as honest as it can be.

HR or sales?

[lobstahmeatwad]

who is the cj100f guy who started this thread?

I realize you are captain TGR and getting long in the tooth but you really don't know or this is interweb sarcasm?

[Art Shirk]

Bump.

I just got my summons for jury duty. I am having a hard time taking time off work to ski right now since I am broke and actually have work (for a change), so I can't take time off for this shit. Anyone have legit ideas on how to get out of even showing up?

The following is not legal advice.

You don't have to do shit. They include a million threats regarding prosecution an legal mumbo. Nothing will come of it. Nothing.

Or just go and during voire dire ask the prosecutor if the hotel you will be sequestered at has porno movies and room service. They will show you the door.

[DharmaBum]

Trail by a jury of peers is a constitutional right that is part of the basis of our free society. Perhaps you'd prefer military tribunals. Suck it up and do your duty, or move to another country.

[back bowl]

As commonlaw said, I've never heard of any repercussions for failing to appear. If you are looking to get out of sitting, I can tell you what excuses worked and didn't work from the last jury I drew:

Worked:
Post-heart-transplant medical appt.
Doctor with a full schedule
Administrative hearing officer with a full schedule
Special needs kid at home that can't be cared for by a sitter or daycare
Some kind of marginally understandable medical condition that will cause random fainting

Didn't work:
Farmer planning a planting day
Childcare problems that don't involve a special needs kid
Teacher who would have to prepare lesson plans
Business owner who doesn't have anyone who can cover his responsibilities
Lawyer with hearing scheduled (Judge just said "that's something I can take care of, consider your hearing cancelled.")
Chef at a restaurant without someone who can fill in

As much as I like juries, and I can get behind all the "do your civic duty" shit, I'd much rather have people in the pool who want to be there, or at least don't hate being there. I think people who hate jury service usually take out their frustrations on defendants, particularly when we put on a case. So I say blow it off...

[jgb@etree]

I did my part and hung the jury that I sat on ~10 years back. Couple of guys from up in Harlem had a beef and one dude claimed that the other came in & ripped a chain off his neck (the implication was that this was a collection attempt for a drug debt).

The prosecution offered zero evidence and were riding on the testimony of the 'victim'. Basically a he said/she said situation. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt? No fucking way. The jury was 100% white, and all but myself & one other were intent on a guilty. Blew my mind how a bunch of supposedly educated and somewhat intelligent folks could reach that conclusion and really believe it. But as they tried to sway the our opinion (myself & the other hold out) the racist BS started flowing pretty thick. One woman said something like, "We don't know what it's like 'up there'. It's a different world". WTF? She lived on the upper east side, just like me at the time. I said to her: "A different world? It's 20 blocks from where you live - you''ve got to be joking, right?"

Other dude eventually caved, and I was the cocksucker who forced everyone else to sit around for an extra day and a half why they tried to convince me to send this guy to jail.

There is no fucking way that I'd ever cast my vote to take away someone's freedom without some real proof. While it's possible that everything went down as presented in court, but I really doubt it. There sure wasn't any evidence, or even credible testimony.

[freak]

I realize you are captain TGR and getting long in the tooth but you really don't know or this is interweb sarcasm?

do you really need to ask?

freak~[&]

[The AD]

How often do you get called? Maybe once a decade or so? Suck it up and do your duty. It's not always a waste of time.

[iceman]

I realize you are captain TGR and getting long in the tooth but you really don't know or this is interweb sarcasm?

It's like jazz, man. If you have to ask you're never going to get it.

You may dopeslap yourself now.

[Hugh Conway]

How often do you get called? Maybe once a decade or so? Suck it up and do your duty. It's not always a waste of time.

your employer pays for Jury Duty - fuck off. and in Ventura county it's once every year or two.

[DharmaBum]

I did my part and hung the jury that I sat on ~10 years back. Couple of guys from up in Harlem had a beef and one dude claimed that the other came in & ripped a chain off his neck (the implication was that this was a collection attempt for a drug debt).

The prosecution offered zero evidence and were riding on the testimony of the 'victim'. Basically a he said/she said situation. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt? No fucking way. The jury was 100% white, and all but myself & one other were intent on a guilty. Blew my mind how a bunch of supposedly educated and somewhat intelligent folks could reach that conclusion and really believe it. But as they tried to sway the our opinion (myself & the other hold out) the racist BS started flowing pretty thick. One woman said something like, "We don't know what it's like 'up there'. It's a different world". WTF? She lived on the upper east side, just like me at the time. I said to her: "A different world? It's 20 blocks from where you live - you''ve got to be joking, right?"

Other dude eventually caved, and I was the cocksucker who forced everyone else to sit around for an extra day and a half why they tried to convince me to send this guy to jail.

There is no fucking way that I'd ever cast my vote to take away someone's freedom without some real proof. While it's possible that everything went down as presented in court, but I really doubt it. There sure wasn't any evidence, or even credible testimony.

See? One person can make a difference and keep the system in check at the same time.

[Trainwreck]

Hugh has succinctly summed up my sentiments on the subject.

[Shredhead]

In Aspen one time, so few showed up for jury duty.
The judge ordered the bailiff to go to the post office and just grab people getting their mail, just so he could seat a jury.

If you want to get out the duty, just show a strong opinion about the case during the pretrial questioning.

I got called to Federal Court for former Governor George Ryan's trial. The thought of being sequestered for months really turned me off. Luckily, I had been paying him bribes for years and told that to the judge. Dismissed!

[The AD]

If you want to get out the duty, just show a strong opinion about the case during the pretrial questioning.

I agree. It's pretty easy to make it clear you don't want to be there and they aren't going to seat someone with that attitude. Of course that's not going to prevent you from waiting around for a hours waiting to even get called into a courtroom.

And, yes, I get paid from my employer now for jury duty, but the first time I got called I did not and I still thought it was worthwhile.