Getting out of Jury Duty

[jimbino]

I have never served on a jury and probably never will get the chance, since I have a law degree, and am very outspoken and know the law and all about jury nullification. If I could serve on a death penalty jury, I would gladly do so in order to find any defendant subject to execution not guilty regardless of the facts (and the law;-)

I love to game the current corrupt system, however. Here in Texas, the state constitution says in Art I, Sec 4 that "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."

This means that every judge, lawyer and juror has to believe in god in order to serve. This sucks bigtime, of course, like a lot of things about Texas and, thankfully, the clause has been already been nullified by a Federal Court.

I don't know about you, but I will not uphold any constitution that has that requirement, nullified or not. When I was called to the preliminary jury pool some years ago here in Texas, the judge asked for anyone to speak up who was disqualified for reasons of prior convictions, I believe it was. Anyway, I raised my hand to say I was disqualified because, not only would I not support a fcuked-up constitution, but I wouldn't even cooperate with a process that did. The judge said, "you will too" to which I responded, of course, "I will not!"

So I got a letter from the court asking me to justify my position. To which I replied, more or less that I couldn't be required to participate in a religious Texas courtroom process, thought the judge and ass, etc, etc, and, finally, that I am a happy resident of Tennessee and Texas can go to hell!

That worked fine, of course, but I can't advise others of you who don't want to serve on a jury to profess inability to support the state constitution and, if somehow compelled to serve, to have every intention to decide against the interests of the state, regardless of the facts of the case ;-), though it's guaranteed to work every time.

Switch your residency to New Hampshire and you will be able to engage in a public shouting match with the idiot Texas judge, and win!

[i8pikachu]

Why did you even show up for jury duty? You knew you wouldn't get selected. There's no way they can know whether you received the summons. You wasted a lot of time for nothing -- well, you get to post about it. :D

Next time, just don't go -- you don't have to give a reason. There are no consequences because we all know you won't get selected.

[OBSERVER]

I served on a murder trial. I probably could have gotten out because my employer didn't pay the entire time, but I served anyway. After the process, I too am disturbed at the entire process. To have a guy on trial for his life by 12 people who are thinking more about what's for lunch or what time they can get out is scary. Even so, the worst thing is, no matter what I don't think anybody truly evaluates facts in the same way, no matter what the instructions. Some of them don't understand reasonable doubt at all. I hope that I never have to be on trial. It's a crapshoot.

[Zwerg]

"Getting out of jury duty" evidently means different things to different people. To some, it seems to mean not having to sit through a case and deliberate guilty-not guilty. But:

If you are called to federal jury duty, you don't get out of much by avoiding actually serving on a jury. If you are thrown off a jury panel, they just put you back in the pool again, where you remain until they decide enough weeks have passed to let you go. Meanwhile you either have to show up at the courthouse every morning, or call in to see whether they want you. Planning what you will do in the next week is impossible.

I believe most state and county jurisdictions can do the same, but it varies as to how long you must be available. Each day can be iffy, and what you do on any given day is up to the authorities, not to you. So you "get out" of just part of jury duty by making statements that disqualify you for each specific jury you might be assigned to.

If you ignore the summons, you have to realize that you may be visited at 4 AM and taken to jail. Judges tend to hate people who try to avoid jury duty. Some jurisdictions are very upset because most people "did not get" the summons; the authorities do not believe that old lie as readily as they used to. It all depends on where you live and what the current policy there is.

I was caught while in the USA and just about to return to where I live (in another country, though I'm a US citizen and resident). I had to remain in the USA for several months, which messed up my life something fierce. The feds don't care, nor will they accept a written statement that a citizen is unqualified to serve on any jury (well, they accept it, but they don't believe it and they deny the request to be excused). They punish you for trying to avoid jury duty, no matter what your reason; the punishment is to keep you dangling, frozen in place, unable to plan one day into the future, for weeks and weeks. Whether you get thrown off a jury panel does not matter; nothing matters, really, unless you are hospitalized with a disabling illness or injury. The system will have its pound of flesh from those it considers scofflaws. "It's your duty as a citizen" is the refrain, and I have no idea how anyone can refute that, ethically speaking. It really is our duty, even though some of us are unqualified to serve because of our beliefs.

The jury system is a mess, and I don't know how it could or should be reformed. Sure, the rebels among us may be able to suggest ways for the slick individual to beat it, but what is needed is not just relief for a bold few who wriggle out of service (and then brag about having shirked their civic duty), but a reorganization that makes jury duty humane and rational for everybody. I have no idea how that could be accomplished.

The people who say they "got out of jury duty" usually got out of part of the service, not all of it. They just refused to cooperate, so they were sent home -- but how long that takes varies considerably. The only way I know to make an exception of yourself is to ignore the summons, and that puts you at a certain level of risk. I know of no way to determine the level of that risk, but I know that some jurisdictions are trying to find ways to elevate it substantially.

[Zwerg]

Here's a news report of what happened to one very unlucky soul who ran into a legal buzzsaw in Texas:

- - -

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090509/D982S7N80.html

Texas man jailed 83 days for skipping jury duty
May 9, 1:56 PM (ET)

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) - A man arrested for allegedly failing to appear for jury duty was released Saturday after spending 83 days in jail, a length of detention that a judge called "unacceptable."

Douglas Maupin was released a day after The Dallas Morning News brought his plight to the attention of a Collin County judge.

Maupin, a masonry contractor, was arrested Feb. 15 after police pulled him over for speeding. Police then detained him on a 2003 warrant for failure to appear for jury duty.

He wrote a letter to the newspaper about his lengthy jail stay, then said in a jailhouse interview that he, his friends and family could not afford his $1,500 bail.

He said his attempt to get a public defender was rebuffed by a jail clerk.

District Judge Chris Oldner said he was unaware of Maupin's detention until Friday, even though the case was assigned to his court. The judge who signed the original 2003 warrant had retired, and officials said the case was assigned to the court of his replacement but the offense didn't fall under that court's responsibility.

"He should not have spent that much time. This is unacceptable," Oldner told the Morning News. "I don't know why the process failed to notify us."

Oldner also said that Maupin should have been allowed to apply for a public defender.

Maupin, 34, said he just wanted his day in court.

"I do know I have the right to due process and a speedy trial," he said. "I've had neither. It's not right."

The judge said he was "disappointed this has happened," and promised to investigate.

- - -

We don't know what, exactly, this guy did. He might have gone through the first step of reporting for jury duty and then not showed up the next day. But did he just ignore the summons that was mailed to him? That would be a real nightmare scenario, wouldn't it? Let's hope that's not what happened, unlikely as it seems....

[Queens Juror]

I have never served on a jury and probably never will get the chance, since I have a law degree, and am very outspoken and know the law and all about jury nullification. If I could serve on a death penalty jury, I would gladly do so in order to find any defendant subject to execution not guilty regardless of the facts (and the law;-)

I love to game the current corrupt system, however.

Sounds like you're one sh*tty officer of the court, a real scumbag lawyer.

As far as getting out of jury duty, there used to be many categories for exemption in NY. But after some juror reform, there are very few excuses now allowed. This enlarges the pool of potential jurors, and shortens the time for everyone. It used to be a minimum of one week (if not picked for a trial), but now is two days, or even one. Thanks to the juror reform, Rudy Giulianai, when he was mayor, was called for jury dury and actually served on a civil trial.