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How do I get out of jury duty?

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bill0527 said:
It says on my letter that if I ignore it, they will notify the Sheriff who will send a deputy to my house to bring me to court, where it will be determined whether or not I will be held in contempt.

I don't think that's something I really want to ignore.
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I'll edit my bad advice.

Don't throw it out.
 
Just pick your nose and eat it. A lot. I have no idea if this'd work, but I doubt whoever would be interviewing you would be impressed with the prospect of someone in the jury snacking on his own nasal nuggets while court is in session.
 
When I went for Jury Duty I got unlucky and it was our group chosen for a GRAND jury selection with a term of 7 months. They had to question 45 potential jurors and we all were in the same room for the process. The state attorney and judge did not put up with any bullshit from any juror.
 
The Big Rig said:
"Some people try to get out of jury duty by lying. You don't have to lie. Tell the judge the truth. Tell him you'd make a terrific juror because you can spot guilty people [snaps fingers] just like that! Tell him it's all about the distance between the eyes. Have a little ruler and measure the judge, he'll like that."

-George Carlin
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From Fresh Prince (jury selection):

Uncle Phil: "And why do you think you'd make a good juror?"
Guy: "Because I can tell if a guy is guilty just by looking at him" (and he was dead fucking serious :lol)
Uncle Phil: "Even I can't tell if a man is guilty just by looking at him."
Guy: "And they let you be a judge."
 
Say you have trouble paying attention and that you get easily distracted. This wont get you dismissed outright. You'll still lose a day but at least one of the lawyers will dismiss you.

Or voice your hate for the justice system. Say youre brother was screwed over by the cops and that you wholeheartedly believe that everyone is innocent now.

Or say youll be a great juror because you watch Law and Order so as a result you GET the justice system. Offer your assistance to one of the lawyers and do it with a straight face. Tell him you can easily talk the defendant into Man 1. This would probably work best if its a traffic case or something completely unrelated to murder.

Last tactic is untested. I used the first one and a friend of mine used the second. Both worked.
 
I say just stick with the process and hope any trial you get called for gets canceled. The few times people around me (including myself) have got called the trials have been canceled at least 80% of the time. The best part about this strategy is that you don't get asked again for a really long time.
 
Just don't reply when they send you the letter. Both my parents received letters to be juries, but they didn't reply back and nothing happened. I also got a letter to be a jury, but I didn't reply and nothing happened to me. Just don't reply back.
 
I had to go last year and fortunately, the guy who was being prosecuted pleaded guilty and we all left home. They gave me this paper where it basically said that I had attended and exempts me from jury duty for one year. Funny enough I just received another notice that I have to go on the 28th.
 
I got a notice but I moved to a different state.

The problem is I haven't officially changed my address.

What makes it more complicated is that I'll be home in time to serve since my place of work is going out of business.

Hopefully they don't assume anything wrong of me.
 
I saw one guy disagree with the judge when they were questioning potential jurors. The judge asked the man to leave.
 
I believe it is against the law if you are trying to intentionally disqualify yourself from jury duty but they cant tell as long as you don't try to overdo it.
 
When I went for jury duty, I saw several people say that "my husband/wife/uncle/etc. is in the police force, and therefore I'm biased towards officers". They were all dismissed. I didn't think jury duty was a big deal back then, so I just said "no" when the judge asked me if there was any reason I couldn't be a fair juror. That was epic fail, a whole week of my life spent in the courtroom over meth abuse. I didn't even contribute to any of the deliberations or discussions :lol . Most boring week of my life that year.
 
I've been called in for duty twice and ended up sitting on trials both times. The judge starts the selection process outlining civic duty and basically explaining to everyone that trying the "advice" given in this thread during the selection process will result in a very mad judge.

As a 911 dispatcher I assumed I would be tossed out by any defense attorney. Wrong. In a DUI trial when asked if anyone knew anyone from the list of witnesses I advised my job and that I personally and professionally knew the members of law enforcement involved in the case. I sat that trial along with the wife of a retired police chief.

There are very few people who find it convenient to go to jury duty. If a "jury of my peers" didn't include people with children, people with "important" jobs, and all the other people who just couldn't be bothered... I think the system would be broken.
 
Sol.. said:
Answer questions with quotes from Madonna songs.
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"Does he deserves death penalty?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"Cause we're living in a material world, and I'm a material girl..."

:lol
 
LovingSteam said:
Wow, I didn't know the OP was a conservative! Please do tell us how you found out this most secret information.
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I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not, but I think bill would be disappointed if his conservative bias wasn't firmly established to GAF-at-large.
 
I'm pushing 30 and I have never been called or received a letter for jury duty. I think it has something to do with the fact that I enlisted at 17, and therefore somehow made it off the books. My wife has got called twice.
 
Last time I was home, I recieved a notice in the mail saying what time to show up to court for selection. I was like "Wha?"
I then noticed the little box that said something about being exempt due to being active duty military.
Whew, dodged that one...
 
I've gotten called for jury duty twice, once when I was 18 and once when I was 20. I was living with my parents and going to college at the time with a part-time job. Luckily, I have the same name as my dad (junior ofc) and I'd just hand him the papers and he'd serve for me instead. It was win/win, I didn't have to take off work and lose money or miss important days of school and he got off work scott free for a couple days. :D
 
On the flip side, is there a way to volunteer for jury duty? I have always wanted to do it, I never get notices, and my work will pay me normal hours for it. I would love to have the experience.
 
My advice is to tell them that you drink alot. Tell them you cant make it because there is a 99.99998% chance that you will be drunk.

Or, if you dont feel like getting arrested that day...simply say you hate white people. Hell I dont think it matters, just let them know your irrational hatred and prejudice towards a random ethnicity.

For example, I arbitrarily pick Eskimoes whenever the need arises for me to be irrationally prejudiced. Have fun, be creative, and good luck.
 
So anyway my first day of jury duty was interesting if nothing else. I got called into a trial at around 2pm and entered the court, the judge outlined the case and it turned out it was a manslaughter case which would have been interesting but I was sent out of the court room.

The reason being, I know the defendent, my wife went to school with the victim, I play football with the key witnesses and my auntie was the coroner on the case.

The weird thing is all of this is true, talk about coincidence. Although I'm glad I didn't have to serve on that case as I couldn't show my face in my town as easy if I was on the jury that sent the lad down.

I'm still there for the rest of the 2 week period and got called down to another trial but didn't make the 15 to 12 cut, that was just an assualt case though.
 
I once told them that I care for a quadrapalegic, who depended on me to live and eat, and they still denied my excuse!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I'm mostly a stay-at-home dad and I've got my own side business where I can be flexible when I work. My excuse is that I've got a 5 year old who is in kindergarten, and a 4-month child that I take care of. We do not have day care or babysitting services. I am the only person who takes care of these kids the 3-4 days a week that my wife works her shifts. Our 5 year old is in kindergarten at a private school and there is no bus service. I am responsible for taking her at 7:30am and picking her up at 3pm every day of the week.
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That's your excuse. I served on a trial jury back in October and a woman got out of it because she said she could not find childcare for her child.

Another man was excused because he was self-employed and he said jury duty would hurt his business...so much so that he could not fairly concentrate on the case.

edit: That being said. I served on the jury, and I have to say it was a really positive experience for me. I really enjoyed it, and I'm not sure why people work so hard to get excused from it.
 
Just throw the notice in the trash. They are far too busy to be prosecuting people that don't show up for Jury Duty since people move so often now and can just say they never got the notice.

The next person I know that got in trouble for throwing it away will be the first, and if you're just going to go and say, "I'm racist," you're doing the exact same thing, except wasting more of your time.
 
Hilbert said:
On the flip side, is there a way to volunteer for jury duty? I have always wanted to do it, I never get notices, and my work will pay me normal hours for it. I would love to have the experience.
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No, self-selection would corrupt the legal system (well, more so).
 
It's actually pretty easy to get out of jury duty. Just show up. You are not automatically selected for the jury. They ask you a bunch of questions and chances are you are going to get excused. The only people who get picked are the people who pretend they are complete automotons capable of being completely impartial.

I always find it funny though that people eat up shows like Law and Order, but jury duty is seen as Chinese water torture or something.
 
I had to go a month ago. I showed up, filled in a form, sat for an hour and a half, and left. They settled without needing us. Happens fairly often.
 
I suppose it depends on your situation, but I LOVE jury duty. My work pays for the day off if you have to do jury duty, you go sit in a room where everyone is quiet, take your laptop, DSi, iPod, a good book.... free donuts and coffee..... I mean, its pretty sweet IMO. :lol I would love to be called every month if it was possible.
 
Asking how to commit a felony will not get you banned, but asking how to scam a free game in a buy one get one free sale will.

My favorite forums indeed.
 
TheApatheticOne said:
I suppose it depends on your situation, but I LOVE jury duty. My work pays for the day off if you have to do jury duty, you go sit in a room where everyone is quiet, take your laptop, DSi, iPod, a good book.... free donuts and coffee..... I mean, its pretty sweet IMO. :lol I would love to be called every month if it was possible.
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I agree with this. I had federal jury duty once and immediately got on a sexual harassment case. It lasted me a week and then I went back to work. Federal is better than local though. They pay you mileage to get to the courthouse and I think it was 40 or 50 bucks a day.
 
All you have to say is it is against your religion to judge people. They will let you go. They won't ask you anything else.

I just did jury duty a few months ago and actually liked it.
 
Update: I called last Monday to let the court know I received my summons.

They called me this afternoon to let me know I didn't have to show up because the trial was cancelled. The defendant pleaded guilty, but I'm also back in the jury pool.
 
bill0527 said:
Update: I called last Monday to let the court know I received my summons.

They called me this afternoon to let me know I didn't have to show up because the trial was cancelled. The defendant pleaded guilty, but I'm also back in the jury pool.
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Hahaha. I called the day before going which was two days ago, and it said I didn't have to show up.
 
The two major pools most states use for the jury selection process are the voter pool and the DMV pool.

You can remove yourself from the voter pool by unregistering. If you want to vote, just register each time, unregister after the election. Depending on when your state taps the pool, you can do this fairly safely without much risk of being added to the jury pool.

The DMV pool is trickier to get out of. Whenever you renew your license or get a state ID through them, you're in the pool.

If you have two addresses you claim residency for (say you own two properties, or home vs college, etc.), you can simply respond to one summons with the ol' "I don't live here anymore, here's a copy of my utility bill to prove it". Obviously both addresses have to be in separate counties for this to work.

Get a summons? Call the number, beep boop boop, "NO", mail it back with copy of utility bill, done. It's the quickest way short of shredding it to get out of it.

It's illegal, of course. Some courts do share this information now. If you remove yourself from the pool via this method they'll send your info to the court of the county you claim to live in. If you and your pen pal bob have decided to pay eachother's cable bills to run this scam, and the courts notice you flip flopping in and out of their system, they can investigate and haul your ass in. In both counties.
 
Tell them you have family in law enforcement.

I've always been fortunate enough to have a parent in law enforcement. The defense lawyer will always end up excusing you from it because of it.
 
I got a summons in the mail today. I'm inclined to toss it out as I have the other 7-8 I've received over the years, but I got shit for not going, when I had a 911 interview last year. The lady said I had to promise to go the next time, which I guess is now. Bleh. I hope it's at least some OJ trial where I get a hotel and stuff.
 
Someone told me that if you tell them you believe in jury nullification, that'll get you dismissed. I don't know if it's true, though.
 
bjork said:
I got a summons in the mail today. I'm inclined to toss it out as I have the other 7-8 I've received over the years, but I got shit for not going, when I had a 911 interview last year. The lady said I had to promise to go the next time, which I guess is now. Bleh. I hope it's at least some OJ trial where I get a hotel and stuff.
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911 interview wtf? :lol


ThLunarian said:
Someone told me that if you tell them you believe in jury nullification, that'll get you dismissed. I don't know if it's true, though.
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That means that you believe you can acquit someone even if they are found guilty (based on the facts) but the jury decides the person shouldn't be found guilty because of a circumstance (not always specifically but an example is if someone's getting screwed over by the IRS and jury finds them not guilty of some sort of tax evasion or some shit) look it up lol


Judges don't even want people bringing that up in their courtroom, they get pissed off.
 
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