Well, for the first time in my life I got summoned to jury duty. Gotta show up at the courthouse tomorrow. Fun, fun. I'm not entirely negative about it, as it will be a new experience that I'm curious about. Just sucks to be pulled away from work, as this is a busy time of year for me.

Anyone here a jury duty veteran?

Yep Pete, been there, done that....It has been about 10 years ago and I did enjoy my experience. I actually got picked and had to sit through a week of trial. It was sad case about a large family fighting over an inheritance. Hope you have a good experience.

First time ever about 3 years ago. Felt like "the right thing" to do. They're lucky to have you.

My wife got picked for jury duty on a party-gone-wrong rape with a brutal murder trial several years ago in Orlando, said she didn't care to go through that experience again. I've always been lucky, was called a couple of times but never got picked.

Good luck!

Peter, of course I've been involved with numerous juries. Keep just one word in the back of your mind if you're called upon to hear a criminal case: guilty! Seriously, it can be fascinating for a layman to experience the legal process in operation and hopefully you'll get to actually hear a case(if you answer carefully when examined).

I've gotten called a LOT. A LOT as in there was a period of 3 yrs in a row.

A few times got off because of work and school Another time I got off because I had just moved to a new county. One trial I was almost picked for was a death penalty phase, thank goodness I wasn't picked. I 'say' I'm for eye for an eye, but it's different when you actually are deciding on it. This was at the same courthouse at the same time as the Laci Peterson trial in Redwood City, CA. Crazy time.

A few months ago I got called and waited it out. The jury was full by the time it got to me. Just make sure to bring lots of reading material and maybe an iPod. There's a lot of waiting time and most of the time the jury room's wifi doesn't work.

My old boss gave me a good trick and my wife was able to use it. If you can delay your jury duty to the week of Thanksgiving, you probably won't get called. Most lawyers don't want to start a trial w/ only 3 days in the week. I unfortunately could only delay until the week before...

I also noticed that a LOT of people were excused this year for financial hardship, which is not normal. People w/ seasonal or hourly jobs got a pass because they could potentially lose a lot of money which could affect their families/mortgages. Scary.

Good luck. I decided this time I'd be OK to be on a trial, of course I wasn't picked...

After watching all my courtroom drama shows, I was fascinated by our defense lawyer. The DA had to write notes about everyone's answers to the standard questions. The defense lawyer just sat and listened. Then he would proceed to call on everyone, by name, after hearing it only once. AND, he remember EVERY answer in detail and would repeat it back to each potential juror. One of the juror's was a lawyer and commented how he was also impressed.

I've been called repeatedly; only saw a judge once, when I was asking to get off due to bad timing/financial hardship. With my current job, I don't have the same burden (we get full pay when we're on jury duty), but the only time I've had to go in, I got to go home in the afternoon without seeing a courtroom. Bummer.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies, friends!

My job has a good jury duty policy, so I'm ok on that front. But I imagine that there are a lot of people out there that aren't so lucky.

Yes, I've already had several friends remind me to take a book and/or music along, as in this early stage of picking a jury it's just a whole lot of waiting.

Take the fifth!

I was just called last month. I got to go and sit in the jury duty room for 3 days with out being called once. Sure makes for a long boring day.

Excellent idea, although I should think that a flask would be more discreet.

I gotta say, it's nice to have a 1 day/1 trial system.

Never been called to jury duty before, I figured I'd find a way to get out of it...you know...tell the interviewer the guy is obviously guilty, or maybe have a few rye and cokes before the jury selection....

Or you could do your civic duty and do it.

yeah, someday you may be the guy on trial.

Not fun. Many moons ago I had an experience where I found myself sitting in a nasty Greek jail in Thessaloniki for almost a month and whenever I went to trial the only people that spoke English were the interpreter and myself, it's a beeotch whenever the judge is yelling and making a whole lot of aggressive hand gestures and finger pointing at you while you don't have a clue what's going on.

That's all, carry on.

sorry Rick but I do have to ask. How did you find yourself in that situation? ...and how was the food?

Although I do agree with that, some of us couldn't really afford to serve jury duty...due to work or otherwise. Not sure how it works in the US but I understand in Canada we are not compensated for lost wages/income. I am self employed, so jury duty, esp these days with a poor economic outlook could become an issue for people like myself. One day trial...maybe, but if things were to go several days or longer.....

That would indeed, be a scary situation.

Wayne, too much Ouzo, my Fiat 124 Sport and a trip to the big town on a rainy night to our favorite pizza joint wasn't meant to be on that particular night. I was stationed in a small village north of there and was was within 60 days of leaving there and the Army for good after three one year stints in a row, the judge wanted to make sure I wouldn't skip out on paying the damages for the two other cars and held me in jail until I extended in the Army and Greece for one more year to be able to make the payment ... after four years in Greece, payment made!

Edited to add ... the food was horrible, buddies from my Army detachment brought food once or twice daily, thank God!

Well that was fun.

I wasn't even called to to be interviewed, so I just sat there in the courtroom for a couple of hours watching other potential jurors be questioned. They have their group, I am excused.

It was a much more interesting process than I expected. I'm somewhat disappointed that I wasn't chosen to serve. There was a bit of the old 'civic duty' spirit going on, and I liked that. Not unlike voting, it had that "doing what you're supposed to do" feeling. And realizing that the decisions you and the other jurors will make could have a very serious effects on the accused life is something that I'm not faced with every day.

And of course, some folks face a greater economic hardship by missing work than others. The first thing the judge did was to ask the group if anyone simply could not serve as a juror, for whatever reason. At that point anyone could have stood up and more-or-less just walked out. No one did.

The trick with getting out for hardship is to respect the judge. Call him/her "Your Honor" and don't argue. The dude in front of me at the hardship hearing didn't. He didn't get off. I did, but since the judge was pissed, he just postponed me.

Like I said, at the time it was a hardship for me. Now, it wouldn't be, and I'd kind of like to do it.

Amazing. How many of them were smacking themselves later, I wonder, for being sheep and not being brave enough to just stand up and leave? Peer pressure and social conformity are harsh mistresses.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

My plan if I want to get out of jury duty is to claim (it is the truth) that my granddad was a NYC policeman and my dad was a Navy officer, so I'm a law and order type!!!

.
Or you could just write out the answers to thier questions in a Screamingly Loud Font Size to demonstrate how serious you are.

*glances warily at Murph*

No need. Simply a poke at your "Law and Order Type" font size.
I haven't gone postal.............yet.

<-- vaguely reassured ...

Not sure why we all stayed. Perhaps it's just a sense of civic duty. Like voting, taxes, and obeying the law in general, it's just a part of society. It has to be done. Someone has to do it, today was my turn. If everyone scoffed about jury duty and made excuses to get out of it, then who would do it? The legal system is far from perfect, but it's what we have.

And for future reference, if you really want to get out of jury duty, it appears that you could just claim that you were in the middle of a divorce.

The court wanted a brief statement from each candidate; marital status, occupation, etc. One potential juror said that they were in the middle of a divorce. The judge dismissed them immediately, saying that it was part of "the rules" that you couldn't serve as a juror if you had a divorce pending in the court system. I have no idea if it's a state law, part of the county's court system, or the judge's own rule.

Of course, if it isn't true, it might be perjury, so YMMV.

It's easy to feel a sense of 'civic duty' when your the Judge (175g + $$). Wonder how many would do it out of sense of duty and a free lunch?

Nonsense, there's no such thing as free lunch.

Oddly, at least here, you take a pay cut to become a judge. You'll make more as a partner in a successful firm (which is where you'll have to come from to be appointed). Though when you work out the hours spent at the job/stress levels, this may be a topic for conjecture.

Most do it once they've bought and paid off everything they want (usually right after the ivory backscratcher ) as a payback to, and mentor-like position within, the legal community.

Bren R.

You have lawyers with morals?

No, in Canada we have lawyers with Mercedes and Bmws.

I was just in LA. Maseratis and Bentleys are required if you want to impress anyone there.

What does that mean?

I'm sure we have a few Axiom owners around here that drive a 'fancy' car too. Maybe even one or two who *are* lawyers *and* drive a MB or BM.

Wow, I've owned some crappy cars, but....

Piece of <BEEP> car, I gotta piece of <HONK> car...

I LOVE that song!

Pete, my attempt at sarcastic humour re "you have lawyers with morals"....

Different Peter...

oldskool--I think the radio edit is far better than the original. It's just funnier honked out than it is with all the profanity.

Sorry to get back on point

I have always looked at jury duty as just that - a duty. One that is pretty great to have, BTW. Never tried to get out of it and the process is pretty interesting if you can make it into the court room.

I recently had shoulder surgery and had to postpone a summons until this coming March, so I'll be into it again shortly. Looking forward to it.

I was actually disappointed that I didn't get called. It would have been a good experience imo.

I've never been called, though I'm supposed to be producing a video for the NH Supreme Court on "Being a Juror" this summer.... unless it gets canceled with budget tightening as some other State stuff has been lately...

Star wipe... star wipe... star wipe... roll credits.

Bren R.

Star wipe is so dated. The new hotness is the ripple wipe. It uses, like, 3D rendering and stuff.