xjken99

I got home from work today looking forward to a nice relaxing evening with the family to celebrate my birthday. I grab the mail from the box and there right on top is a jury summons with my freakin name on it. Now I am all for doing your civic duty but, I was just on jury duty two years ago and I find it hard to believe they have gone through the entire juror pool in just two years. The last time I went down there for five of the ten days and sat there for six hours a day and only got called for one jury. That case was settled by the time we got back from lunch. The wife and I are planning a weekend getaway the weekend my time ends but, if I am selected for a jury it could interfer with these plans.

prathmann

I don't think that's the way it works. My understanding is that after you've served your name will be taken out of the pool for a specified period of time. But after that it's put back in again and then it's a random drawing so you have just as much of a chance of being called as someone who wasn't been called in decades.

My father was actually a little upset that he never got called a single time his whole life. And he was somewhat active in local politics so he always voted - just never happened to have his name picked.

Hope you either don't get on a jury or it's a short case that's over before the weekend.

Mort Canard

I don't know how Ohio does it but Kansas has a lottery system based on voter rolls. You can't be called twice within 12 months but after than you are eligible again. Hope it doesn't conflict with your plans.

Kurt Erlenbach

Having tried a lot of cases before juries, in my experience almost everyone I've talked to enjoyed their service. A well-run court system does what it can to minimize the wasted time for jurors. Also, just being there helps the system work, because knowing there is a jury ready to go tends to focus the minds of the parties and lawyers, which is why there are a lot of settlements and pleas right before jury selection.

NOS88

Happy birthday.

Bikey Mikey

Do your plans have a non refundable investment? Let's say you booked a cruise or you have some ticket to something that is non-refundable, you can explain this to the court as long as you do have proof and proof that it was booked before the summons was received and often you get your service moved to a future date. I was summoned last summer. We had to call in and see if we needed to report. Often we didn't. The two times I had to go, I was out of there before lunch. The first time, I wasn't chosen for the jury pool. The second time, I was in the pool, but one of the lawyers didn't want me I guess and was dismissed. The second time, the Judge was upset that several hadn't shown up and praised us highly for reporting. I've voted every year since I was 18 and was only summoned to report at the age of 53. I filled out plenty of questionnaires concerning eligibility, but was only summoned last year.

Oh, and BTW, Happy Birthday.

RonH

I had this happen to me in January, just before we were planning to leave for a 2 month vacation in Florida. Some BF members suggested that I call and explain I had prior commitments and ask if they could reschedule my jury date. The woman asked if I could come in the next day. We still had a week before our planned departure date so I went in the next morning. I was in and out in 5 hours.
Give it a try and see how it works out for you.
Good luck.

bigbadwullf

I run a business and as the sole owner and the only Doctor in the office, that tends to be a reason to get me out of jury duty ALTHOUGH I would like to serve. It's just impossible to do. I'd have to close the doors to employees and patients and possibly have to close the doors due to financial reasons not long after . It's a shame the system works as it does but I guess it's the only way to do it.

Litespeedlouie

I've been called up maybe 4 times, and each time it was easy to reschedule for a more convenient time, even months later.

CACycling

I went through four or five years when I was called every year around the same time. Since then, it has been more sporadic. I've sat on 5 jurys (2 DUIs, child molestation, slip & fall, eviction) over the years. California has you sit for one day and, if not on a jury by the end of the day, you are done for the year.

Older son got called for the first time last year and had it postponed till his Christmas break from college. He reported at 8:30am and was excused at 10:30am as they had way too many jurors. Younger son got called this year and had it postponed till next month when he'll be home from college for the summer. We'll see how he fares.

fietsbob

I got one a couple years ago, dropped off the card at the City hall.. I said fine...
You need to fund & send a taxi, to get me there, on time, I don't own a car,
I haven't heard from them since.

qcpmsame 

My brother is a Sheriff's LT, I have a law degree on top of my engineering degree and I am a registered disabled person. When I have gone they get to the questions about family in law enforcement and legal education and its is out the door. They won't do anything to use a disabled person since the adjacent county got successfully sued when a wheelchair restricted person fell off of a non-compliant ramp and was badly hurt. (my company is bidding on ADA compliance modifications to the court house next month.)

Attorneys apparently they don't like jurors second guessing them. I would gladly serve and be impartial if given the chance. Maybe I'll get a chance one day.

Bill

Pamestique 

I've only been called 4 times in my life. The first 3 times because of my education and work background I was immediately dismissed. The last time called, I was the last one sat and attorneys were out of options. Not one question asked and I was part of a jury. Just a side note... it was a 1st degree murder case... worse experience in my life and I still have post traumatic stress syndrome as a result (I mean this sincerely - I still have nightmares). Hopefully that will be enough to keep me sitting on a jury going forward. Thankfully it has been years since i was called.

Rltot

Let's see I'm retired USAF, Disabled Veteran, and working for a Federal Police agency. I want to get picked for Jury Duty.... but never do... wonder why.

phread59

Lemme see, Brother and Sister in law are correctional officers. I know several Sherrif's deputy's. Aunt worked in the DA's office. I get the boot most every time I got seated.

But the kicker was I got preseated in a jury and the lawyers got to the question part. It was an accident case. Lawyer asks do any of you know anything about Pontiac Grand Ams and antilock brakes. I raised my hand. Lawyer says yes juror blah,blah. I said to him yea I do. I'm an ASE certified master technician. A GM certified master technician. I have 30+ years experience and am tained in all manner of ABS systems. I am currently working for a full line GM dealer. "What do you want to know?". I was out of there so fast my head spun. Guess they didn't want someone who knows more than thier expert witnesses on the jury.

I have never been called back. Makes me laugh thinking about it.

Mark Shuman

Dudelsack 

Heaven help The System if a jury member actually knew how full of BS most of this stuff is.

I received a prospective juror's form not too long ago. I wrote that our society is profoundly litigious, our courts need tort reform, and I would likely be biased if I sat in on a civil trial. I will also say that in voir dires. If they want me after that, so be it.

CACycling

During deliberations in the slip and fall case I sat on, we had decided the suit had no merit yet one juror wanted to award something to the plaintif as she had gone to all the trouble to sue the store.

Pamestique 

THIS ^ is why I never want to sit on a jury again. In my murder case 4 jurors refuse to convict a young man who beat an elderly man to death (stomped his face in - I still see those photos in nightmares) IN FRONT OF 5 WITNESSES, because he had a wife and baby. I remember screaming at them and "so you want this violent gang member to get away with murder so he can go home and beat up his wife and kid**********?" The bailiff had to remove me form the jury room for a spell... people are idiots!

Sorry... trust me PTSD from this... after how many years it still bothers me it was a hung jury and eventually the creep was acquitted!

trackhub

In MA, you can be called every three years. You serve for "one day or one trial". This is to say that if, at the end of your first day, you have not been seated on a Jury, or called to a courtroom for jury assembly, you are done for three years. However, they don't always play by their own rules. If a courthouse is very busy, you should count on being told to return, several days in a row.

volosong

I was picked for my first jury about five months ago and as with you, I was the last one in my pool. And likewise, I was not asked any questions. I wondered about this because at that time, I didn't think I could be unbiased.

After the trial, (criminal case), I asked both attorneys why I wasn't asked any questions, as they had to the other jurors. They explained that there was a total time limit, (for all jurors together), that they could ask questions. It was actually a ridiculously short amount of time. When they got to the end of the available jury pool, both of them had run out of time and they had to accept whoever stepped up into the box, whether they liked the prospective juror or not.

I'm sorry your experience was so awful. You are probably done with jury duty, if you want to be. If called again, just let the judge know what you went through and what you continue to go through. You won't have to serve. I was selected to act as the foreman, and I hope I never serve on a jury again. We were hung, 11-1. The last holdout had a real problem with motive, even though we were not to consider motive.

p.s. Happy Birthday, Ken. Hope it was an enjoyable one.

JanMM

Sat on a jury in Atlanta 25+ years ago - convicted a guy of breaking and entering and stealing a dishtowel.
Served on the grand jury here in Indy a number of years ago - that was approx. once a week for a few months. I forget the terminology, but we asked for an indictment against several guys for..............can't talk about it.
Since then, have had a couple of jury summonses but lucked out and my number didn't come up every day I called those weeks.
Also, had a US grand jury summons a couple of years ago but they didn't need me, either.

Whiteknight

Both my wife and I are no longer in this county's jury duty pool. Both of us were victims of violent crimes in the past. That gets you kicked out of the pool with the idea that you would be biased in your judgement.

qcpmsame 

And this is why I decided not to apply my law degree to a career. I returned to Engineering and never regretted my choice.

miss kenton

A number of years ago, I was selected for Grand Jury Duty. It was once a week for 17 weeks. I was appointed Sargeant-at-Arms, which meant I sat next to the Prosecutor and escorted the defendants into the room. We never saw the trials, we just voted to either indict, remand, or dismiss, based on brief testimony of the Prosecutor and one or more witnesses. I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind being called again. I learned a great deal about the justice system and some of craziness that goes on in the world. I also learned that not all jurors are stupid, not all lawyers are sharks, and not all defendants deserve to be in jail.

miss kenton

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Ken!