its just one thing after another this week....and its only MONDAY.
well basically i got my first summons for jury duty today for january 2nd. basically THE worst day to get summoned EVER. its right after new years so some of us would still be nursing some leftover hangovers that didnt get settled on the 1st. well anywho it was completely out of the blue seriously. for crying out loud i only got my drivers liscense in june of this year and im already being summoned. (they get ur name off the registered voter and dmv lists) and the compensation is not worth it either. u last on 15 dollars a day.
i could postpone it but then its already during a school break, those sneaky ppl.
soooooooooo.......

who wants to come up with ideas to get out of it? or at least make sure that they dont pick me to serve lol. or just share ur sob stories.


*edit*
whoo hoo.... apparently im now excused without having to show up.
life is good.

i postponed mines till spring break...and during that week, i will have developed a grudge against every single race and every single occupation (including my own) ;-)

i think i got lucky on mine...i didn't get mines until 4 years after i got my license. i'm the last amongst all my friends keke

i postpone it to just before a federal holiday. since the long weekend is coming, lawyers tend to try to avoid adding extra work. it results is less cases and less likely to be called for summons

dangit
i just got mine today too
though mine's on the fourteenth
how lame

hrm... is Australia, you can write in and say you won't be available.. and thats that. No need to go Jury duty.

Poor you.

i have a friend who LOVES doing jury duty. like she gets visibly disappointed if she can't make her date. i don't get it.

My sister got out of it only because she announced she is a full time student and have a part time job.
Gee, as for me i have to go no matter what , but I had mine postponed til next year.
The lucky part was that the day when I went for Jury Duty, it was canceled and I get to go home right in 5 mins. XD NO moreJury Duty for one year!

it's quite a weird to find ppl in other country MUST be a jury.
we don't do that here.

I heard that when you go in for your summons, they ask you if you can be "fair and balanced" or whatever, and you just say "no" and they let you go. You don't have to serve. Dunno how true that is though.

i remember my friend telling me he has to be summoned on dec 31st =/ but between your summon date, i'd say that they equally suck =[

i recently became a US citizen. i'm sooo not looking forward to those letters

Yeah, I heard about that too.
They ask youy some questions first such as "Are you religious or racist?"
and if you appear bias from your answers, they would let you go.

Hey, just be happy that you at least have the option to defer having to appear at court.

I mean, as far as I know - as a defendant, you're unfortunately not accorded that kind of luxury.

i was summoned last october.
i spent the whole day watching movies in the lobby.
i never got called to report to a judge

They didn't even ask me questions.

I just introduced myself when it came to my turn in front of the court. Age, hometown, occupation, etc. Very boring, so bring something to read or play. FYI, they usually don't pick college students... we were all waved through quickly, so that was a relief.


Why can't you get out of it? I know a lot of people reschedule it, so you should be able to do that as well.

it's easy to get out of it. at least it is in Canada, i'm sure it'd equally be as easy in the USA.
a close friend of mine was summoned for jury duty in early 2007. he likely would've been selected, but he didn't have to do it because he went to high school with the defendant's brother.

another easy way to get out off it...is to show up and act like a biased bastard (yes, even if you're not). i know it sounds cruel to act like that, but say it's like a sexual assault case; before they even give you details about it...just say, "he's guilty! every guy would be guilty of doing what he did because they just can't resist it." or "it's her own damn fault for putting herself into that situation, she deserves what she got."

or if it's a criminal case just act like you're certain the defendant is guilty before they even give you details about the case. they likely won't want to even consider you if you show any signs of being bias.

well if i do reschedule then it would have to be my next school break. which is spring break. who wants to ruin spring break? plus im in the process of transferring to a university this year so spring and summer is going to be a bit hectic for me.

and seriously whats the point in rescheduling? you have to go eventually.

I still remember when I had jury duty. The line to get your ID check was 2 hours (lops from bathroom to snack stand several times) I went there early but others were way ahead of me, then 3 hours in the air conditioned room (summer time but it was too cold in the room). And after all that they said we can leave because they have selected a jury already. I hate it!

tell them you have school/work or just can't make it

i postponed mine 3 times before i actually went. THREE TIMES. yep haha
they don't care if you're a full time student or work full time.

they randomly choose a certain amount of people... so i haven't done one in over a year now, almost 2 years.

when i went, i sat there for the WHOLE day and they didn't even call me.
and that was it. -__-
i fell asleep in my chair haha.

so my only advice is postpone it to your own convenience, don't show up late or they make you go home and come again the next day.

Saying you have work is no excuse unless you're not going to be in town because of it.

i went... and wasn't chosen for the jury. HUZZAH!
it was an extremely boring case anyway.
but seriously, when they ask you questions, seem REALLY stupid or have a biased view on the case.
that way you will be sent home.
that's how it worked for me!

the bad part is waiting for your case to get called.
you just sit in the court house...
waiting...
with the other poor unfortunate souls.
=(

I was scheduled for Nov. 1 , but got out of it because I'm a full time student. Thank Goodness.

Jury Duty is not that bad.
I had my first summons two months ago. I'm not sure how it works in other states but basically for two whole weeks I think I went to work once or twice and I sat in on 4 cases but was never picked for jury. All 4 cases were very similar to each other and because I had someone close to me experience the same thing, they excused me from Jury.

I figured out that when the Attorney's or Judge asks you questions, be really bias and they'll most likely not pick you. If you just sit in the corner with nothing to say, you'll get picked.

I have jury duty in January. I don't get the big deal as to why people want to avoid serving so badly ( I can understand the inconvenience). In fact, I'm eager to go (and maybe get picked for jury) because I watch too much Law & Order. Plus, I'm getting paid for it, so why not?

We don't have jury duty here.

Maybe that's why I don't understand why jury duty still survives in other countries. It seems that the only people who are actually in the jury are those who have nothing to do or don't have that much knowledge (about law) or just think it's fun because of tv or just come because they have to and don't care, but you still decide about real lives!

ive never heard of any canadian friends getting jury duty letters hmm.

Just do what I did and don't show up. If worse comes to worse, just say you never recieved anything in the mail.

When I was a student I deferred for being in school. Somehow when my sister was in school, it didn't work so easily and she had to get all kinds of documentation to get out of it. So now, instead of worrying about a good excuse and whatnot just don't go.

I know its me being a bad American etc etc but whatever.

I went to one earlier this year! On the letter you received, it tells you who can be exampt and how to postpone it if you need to. Please READ it. It's all there. There's even a number on there for you to call.

I believe you do get in trouble if you don't show up.

i know one time (maybe twice?), i was in korea when the summons came, so i obviously couldn't go.

last summer i got one right before i was to leave for japan. i showed up for the selection day, but lucky for me the issue was resolved and didn't go to trial.
ehh...don't try and lie to get out of it. even if you have to work, your employer has to give you time off.
and even if you're hungover, it doesn't matter because the 2nd is technically a workday...

I got out to jury duty twice already, once about 4 years ago when I said I was taking care of chldren ( I was, my siblings) and they couldn't be left alone (they couldn't both were under 10)... I had to go in that day and it sucked beans.... Luckily because of my reason I got sent home.

The second time was about a year ago and I had just started my new job and had been there barly a month, so I was still a temp.. so I wrote on the back in the section that it may cause me to loose my job and I cannot provide for myself...(lies but it works!!!) yup!~ got out of it ^^!!!

What really happens if you ignore your jury summons?

You know you've been tempted to do it – to toss your jury summons in the garbage and pretend it got lost in the mail. Besides, what's the worst that can happen? It's not like missing jury duty is a crime…or is it? One person not likely to ignore another jury summons is Jermaine Dupri, CEO of So So Def Recordings. Dupri recently served a three-day jail sentence in Fayetteville, Georgia for missing jury duty in March 1999. With as much as 80 percent of the population shirking jury duty in some counties, more courts are starting to crack down.

In 2003, Massachusetts fined nearly 48,000 people $2000 each for missing jury duty, under new laws that criminalize repeat offenders. Los Angeles County has fined residents who failed to serve jury duty a total of over $940,000. New YorkCounty fined 1,443 jury dodgers in Manhattan $250 each.

Ignore your summons in Phoenix, Arizona, and a sheriff's deputy just might show up at your door. In many jurisdictions, bench warrants are issued for those failing to appear, which could lead to arrests during routine traffic stops.

Some districts choose incentives over punishment, offering cheap parking, restaurant coupons, and compensation of about $15 a day. At least seven states have redesigned their systems to reduce time spent waiting in assembly rooms. Nearly half the states are considering legislation that would provide more compensation for long trials, and Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi already have already passed such legislation.

By some estimates, as many as 25 percent of jury summons really do get lost in the mail, because of outdated or inaccurate address information, and some people do have legitimate excuses for not being able to serve, such as a handicap or illness.

Most judges however will not excuse you just because you might be missing work or school, although they may defer your service. Why? Well, by law, your employer cannot penalize you for being absent while serving jury duty, and most colleges and universities have similar policies for missing class.

The bottom line is, if you think your excuse is valid, you better show up and tell it to the judge. Judges are fed up with those who ignore their summons outright, so if you respond to yours and plead your case, the judge just might let you out of it. But if he doesn't, don't despair – you may be selected to serve on the trial of the century, and just think of the book deals! But all kidding aside, serving on any jury is better than serving time.


http://www.legalzoom.com/legal-articles/article13206.html

I received the letter 3 times already and I'm not even 21 yet but luckily everytime it comes to my week my group never gets picked

My friends mom got summoned 3 times and since she can barely understand english, she never showed up so when she didn't appear for her third summons, the Sherriff showed up at her door step.

^ if you don't understand English, you still have to go. it's federal offense otherwise. they'll weed out ppl in the process (randomly and those who cannot understand the language enough to be a juror). they call like 300+ ppl each time and only end up using 26 for 2 cases .



in the US, it's a "duty" of a citizen, just like paying tax.

my mom dreads jury duty and she got called 3 times haha. 1st time we were moving to another county, so she didn't have to serve (for the old county). 2nd time she deferred it since her company was short on ppl and she needs to be there. and 3rd time they told her she can only defer once... but 3rd time was right smack on her germany vacation plan so she had jury duty date moved forward instead of moving it back.

is it true that if you don't sign up for voting you won't be selected? ha! i just won't vote

and plus i've NEVER gotta summons... i'm not a US citizen, i'm an ALIEN!!

i havent gotten one of those letters yet lol maybe its because im in college but almost out soon.

my physic teacher said he got exempted from jury duty because he knows too much physic and because of that they dont pick him but dont know if thats true.

if i get one, im gonna said i know a lot of physic and hope that they would exempt me too lol.

its voters registration AND those who hold a valid license. (maybe even just id card)



im sure it was that particular case that physics played a key.
or something else.
if it was a case about theft i doubt physics would help at all haha

my best friend is not a us citizen yet either and she got a summons
they probably got her name off the driver's liscense list
of course she was excused cause well you know..^

jury duty is a pain in the butt, i tried to get out of it but you have to show up unless its an emergency. you go there sit with about 300 people and fill out this pain in the butt form, seriously, felt like I was in highschool again taking the citywide test, I did write down that jury duty was against my religion because I'm buddhist, haha.

then they call you by number and about 20 of us headed to one of the court rooms, sat there for like 5 hours doing nothing and then finally a DA comes in and tell us we can all leave, we all gave each other high fives, picked up our 9 dollar checks and rolled out of there.

It's interesting reading the variety of experiences that people have had with jury duty. For those that have replied, how do your local jurisdictions typically define jury duty service?

In San Diego county, we basically have two versions: the "one day/one trial" service and the "juror phone standby" service. In the former version, anybody called for this type of jury duty has to physically report to the county courthouse for the day and basically go through the monotonous selection process that many above have similarly described. If a person has not been selected by the end of the business day and is officially dismissed by the jury commissioner, then their jury service is considered completed. However, if they do get selected onto a jury, then they must attend the typically 1-2 week trial (on average) before their service is officially completed. But the system does provide for a sort of "reward" system: for those that don't get selected on their one day, they are exempt from jury duty for only one year; however, for those that have to serve on a trial and complete their service, they become exempt after THREE whole years and they don't have to worry about another court summons during that whole time. And if they do happen to receive another summons within the 3 years, they can cite their previous jury duty as a reason for exemption.

The second version is simply a summons to serve as a "standby" juror in case the courts somehow find themselves with a scarcity of available jurors on a given day. When summoned with this kind of jury duty, the person doesn't have to appear at the courthouse. Instead, they have to phone in to a pre-recorded message daily for 5 straight business days to determine if the courts will need your presence. If you find that you have to appear at the courthouse, then the jury service reverts back to the conditions of the aforementioned "one trial/one day" jury duty. But, if you call for 5 straight days and you never get called in, then your jury service is considered finished after the 5th day. Obviously, this kind of jury duty is much more convenient. My most recent jury duty service was performed in this manner and I never had to miss any days at work. I just called in at the designated times after 5pm and I was never required to appear on the following day. It was probably the easiest jury duty service I'd ever had.

There was one time when I had a highly interesting experience with the "one day/one trial" type of jury duty service. I showed up at the courthouse as required and went through the regular motions of the juror selection process. Ultimately, I ended up being one of the jurors that were sworn in for this one court trial involving a hit-and-run/evading arrest case. Like anyone else, I was disappointed with the fact at being "stuck" with being a juror - and I had to contact my work during the lunch recess to inform them that I would have to serve on a trial. Interestingly enough, after that lunch recess, we all showed right back up at the court room to start hearing the opening arguments.

But before the trial got started, a startling development occurred: apparently, the arresting officer that was called in to serve as the opening witness informed the prosecuting attorneys that he honestly could not positively identify the defendant as the person that perpetrated the hit-and-run and evasion of arrest. He simply just didn't remember how they guy looked like! So the prosecutors informed the judge of this and the judge immediately dismissed the case due to lack of evidence. And just like that - we were all DONE. We weren't even seated 15 minutes and the 12 of us that were just sworn in were finished with our jury duty! In the end, we got the best of both worlds: we were done in "one day", we got assigned to a trial, and by definition we were automatically exempt from jury service for the next 3 years!

Haha, that was by far the easiest jury duty that I ever served.

The letter they sent me in the mail told me to call basically the friday before the jury duty date and I forgot.
I showed up Monday when they opened and they had told everyone there that all the jury spots were already filled and we could go.
Lucky me.

Oh, I got schedule from last summer and I totally forgot about it. I guess they didn't chose my group number so I'm assuming I got away for now. Unless I get another letter saying I have to do it again.

I don't get it.
I love to get juror. =]
I did that once - it was great...It was also somewhat enjoyable because I was sitting next to a lawyer and whenever lawyers who were on the case would say something non-sense, she would make a sarcastic comments or say "what the hell is he saying?" =]

I got 3 more letters after that but I was either in school or out of state. I've been getting a lot of jury duty letters lately - at least once very six months for the past 4 years.

i tried getting out of mine but it didn`t work.
best thing is to just do it & get it over with.

^ yea thats what imma gonna do. *sighs*

I managed to dodge two bullets. The first time I was summoned it was for LA county since I registered to vote there during school. But when they sent the summons I was back home up in norcal, so I got out of it by "not having a proper means of transportation" w00t. When I got back I made sure I registered back home, and when they sent me a summons I was like "I'm a full time student in LA". So the woman who I talked said she'd defer it until I graduate. So I'm good for at least another year and a half

i have jury duty the same date too jan. 2...haha... i was originally due for 0ctober..but i rescheduled it and got jan.2...if u wanna get waived, ppl told me to act racist or act like u dont know english..LOL..but yeah...just do it and get it over with.

What the heck is jury duty????

i think jury duty is when you get a letter from [dont know what its called] asking you to attend a court and debate on who is guilty and what not. you can appeal to the letter but after awhile if you dont go, they will force you to pay money for not attending.

Ulgh my two best friends and I all got our first letter before we turned 21. SUCKS.

My guy friend was the first to be summoned. He said it wasn't too bad at the time since he was only about 19 I think and he wasn't working so it didn't really affect his day. He wasn't selected since he was so young and he's a bit of a flake....

My best friend's group didn't get called up.

I unfortunately had to go. I took after my guy friend and acted really stupid. They asked me if I understood what it meant when I would be able to come up with a verdict "beyond reasonable doubt". I just sat there and said, "Ummmm....no?" I left before noon.

It's not that hard to get out if jury duty to be honest. I just really don't like it because the courthouse is soooooo far from where I live and most of the cases are small cases that last a day. It's nothing cool like the L&O episodes. LOL

I got mines too.
I was supposed to serve it around the 13th of February but because of school I had to call back to get another date.
I can't believe that you can't use school as an excuse! Anyways, I got another date which isn't until June 2nd but helllo! Summer break for me! I graduate this year in May so I'm ready to go to vacation and now I have to wait until the second week to go! Gahhhh!! I thought of calling back so I can serve mines over Spring Break but I have to do major-related stuff during that time. Ok man. Why didn't I think of THIS?! Serve it right after graduation but I'll doubt they'll let me but I shall try!

Oh mannnn!! Just thinking of driving to downtown LA is freaking me out already! I was supposed to go a courthouse one time for my sister in DT LA but got on the wrong freeway and had to find my way from USC to 2nd Street. Good thing I have photographic memory because after going round and round for awhile I passed Staples Center passed the Fashion District to a whole that we came out when my dad was helping me find the place the other day (yeah, I know...but you have to drive on that particular freeway to know my feeling if you've never driven there yourself).

BTW: I heard from my friend that if you're reading Crime and Punishment or some other book, they'll excuse you.