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So I got sent for jury duty, but don't really want to go any advice on getting out?

When you go in for the "interview" process, find a way to make sure the case "hits too close to home"; if it's a rape case of a teenaged girl or something and you have a sister that's pretty close to the same age (or daughter)...they pretty much shove you out the door. You just pretty much have to show you have no way to be unbiased.

Do your duty.
Show up.
Spend the afternoon with the other potential jurors and go home when you find out you aren't needed.

Why don't you want to do it? Do you actually have a legitimate reason, or are you just lazy?

One way not to do it is the approach one guy used when I was called in: giving a long rant about how he doesn't believe in the judicial system or psychology (the case involved an insanity defense). Yeah, he certainly got out of jury duty, but I doubt he enjoyed what happened next when the judge asked him to stay after everyone else was leaving.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Getting+Out+of+Jury+Duty

If you're a student, you can get a waiver. Otherwise, there's not much you can do unless you feel like going to jail. You're gonna have to show up unless you are literally bedridden, and I'm pretty sure they're not gonna buy that unless you have extensive documentation proving it.

Funny thing in the one trial I served on the judge gave contempt of court charges for people trying to get out of it
But then he also put the ex mayor in jail for years he was hard core

Doug Stanhope language warning i suppose?

Neat coincidence, I got slapped with a Jury Duty letter on Tuesday. I'm the first person I know to have ever been called, and they couldn't have randomly-generated a worse potential juror.

Simpliest way is to show some sort of Bias.

efarrer wrote:
Do your duty.
Show up.
Spend the afternoon with the other potential jurors and go home when you find out you aren't needed.

Agree 100%. Your country presumably is like mine, in that ordinary citizens sitting on juries are the last bulwark of justice. Do your duty.

Is purposely avoiding Jury duty against the law XD

The concept of jury duty does have some serious issues when you consider that people aren't likely to do a great job at something that they are being forced into doing.

 TheWaspinator wrote:
The concept of jury duty does have some serious issues when you consider that people aren't likely to do a great job at something that they are being forced into doing.

Unless of course they understand the purpose of it, the reason it's a part of our society, and as such, treat it with the gravity that it deserves.

 Cheesecat wrote:
So I got sent for jury duty, but don't really want to go any advice on getting out?

All depends on where you are and what the courts are like. When I was in San Diego for instance, if people didn't want to go, they just didn't go, because there hasn't been a single penalty issued for not showing up in San Diego County since the 1980's. Some places will accept financial hardship or travel plans or family issues as well.

I got a letter from my boss. It was crunch time, and I was key. Excused.

Turn up dressed as Judge Dredd. That'll work.

 Hordini wrote:

 TheWaspinator wrote:
The concept of jury duty does have some serious issues when you consider that people aren't likely to do a great job at something that they are being forced into doing.

Unless of course they understand the purpose of it, the reason it's a part of our society, and as such, treat it with the gravity that it deserves.

Do you think there's any chance that people who make "how do I get out of this?" threads are going to treat it with the gravity it deserves if they fail to get out of it? We'd be better off letting them walk away.

Tell them you don't speak French. ;P

 TheWaspinator wrote:

 Hordini wrote:

 TheWaspinator wrote:
The concept of jury duty does have some serious issues when you consider that people aren't likely to do a great job at something that they are being forced into doing.

Unless of course they understand the purpose of it, the reason it's a part of our society, and as such, treat it with the gravity that it deserves.

Do you think there's any chance that people who make "how do I get out of this?" threads are going to treat it with the gravity it deserves if they fail to get out of it? We'd be better off letting them walk away.

Oh, no. Most likely not. But that doesn't mean that people can't be made to do something and still do a good job of it.

You would be surprised how seriously a bunch of ordinary people take their jury service. I've been on a jury and I was impressed by how this randomly selected bunch of plebs worked together with all their strengths and weaknesses to come to a just verdict.

It really is the last bulwark of justice in the Anglo-Saxon socio-political-legal system. It is the main place where you as a typical citizen and representative of ordinary people, can make an individual contribution to the proper workings of our society. Unlike voting, where you are irrelevant unless you are one of the 5% of swing voters in marginal constituencies.

If you don't want to go, and you end up having to go, I hope you will buckle down and do your best.

From the hacky, unfunny overplayed 'jokes' in US tv and films it seems like Jury Service is considered on par with root canal.

I did it in the UK a few years back - for a pretty big trial in the top court. Overall it was pretty interesting, even if it did go on and on and on and on. The hours were pretty short (10am to 4pm max, with plenty of days which finished early.

We were specifically told during the induction not to try and weasel out using the 'Oh, I'm massively biased against *insert group here* excuse. As other posters have mentioned, you get a bad tempered judge and you might end up with a contempt of court for your trouble.

Yeah do not try to get out of it unless you have a good reason. They've heard every excuse you can imagine and they don't joke around. It's a civil duty for a reason, just like signing up for the draft or paying taxes.

If they find out you've lied to get out of it, they will make you pay one way or another. This is a system entirely built upon catching people who are lying to get out of something. Don't even bother unless you have a serious excuse (for America, financial hardships due to lost wages because we get paid $12.50 a day, illness, or extreme inconvenience) for example, the last I time I got excused I had a job in Minnesota that started the week I was supposed to start jury duty in Kentucky. Explained to the judge that that would almost certainly cause me to be "let go" due to missing training and he let me off.

I'm still waiting to hear back from this recent one, I sent the letter back a bit late, on top of the fact that it had to be forwarded over a thousand miles, so who knows what'll happen. Thankfully I'm apparently signed up to a tiny district and the judge is very understanding if he sees youre not BSing him.

That being said, if they said that they were just going to make me do it next time I'm back in the area, I'd do it. I wouldn't like doing it more than likely, and it would be very inconvenient, but sometimes you have to act your age and do stuff you don't want to do.

I got called up 15 or so years ago and had just started a new significantly improved job - I was literally two weeks in. I wrote a letter to that effect and asked that my jury service put off for 6month/a year (not cancelled) and they were happy with that.

I have never heard back on attending again.

KK's right though, it is very important.

 Vitali Advenil wrote:
If you're a student, you can get a waiver. Otherwise, there's not much you can do unless you feel like going to jail. You're gonna have to show up unless you are literally bedridden, and I'm pretty sure they're not gonna buy that unless you have extensive documentation proving it.

In the US there are various waivers and extensions. As there is no chance I will be on a jury I just keep extending, and then ignore it.
Canada however is a different country. Look up extensions and waivers in your home district/province/town rad filled partyzone.

I have only been called once and probably will only ever be called that one time. I told the judge that having the defendant swear on the bible to tell the truth was pretty much the equivalence of swearing to tell the truth on a roll of toilet paper or a stack of phone books.

I also felt it was a waste of everyone's time and taxpayer's money to be paying for a translator for someone in the country illegally and that it would also save tax payers in the end if we just deported them.

I've been called twice. First time the letter was sent to an old address, and I never showed. Second time we were asked if we knew anyone involved in the case. One older lady saw a picture of the detective, and yelled "I know him, he's a fething nazi"! The whole room was dismissed and the judge was pretty pissed about it.

Second time we were asked if we knew anyone involved in the case. One older lady saw a picture of the detective, and yelled "I know him, he's a fething nazi"! The whole room was dismissed and the judge was pretty pissed about it.

I'll have to remember that trick.

Having used jury consultants, I have a MUCH less positive view of jury trials.In our personal case, we were in a bidding war with the defense to get one particular jury consultant. Jury consultants naturally believe that they decide the case before it starts, based on the jurors picked alone. As we were going through it we reviewed why each juror was good or bad (and to what level) for our case and whether they fit well with our strategy (and how to modify the strategy for each juror actually picked). It was all about personalities. Thats when I decided that the death penalty was a horrifically bad idea, if its decided like this.

There is no justice. There is just us.

efarrer wrote:
Do your duty.
Show up.
Spend the afternoon with the other potential jurors and go home when you find out you aren't needed.

Of the 4 times I've been called in, this happened 3 of them.

When a defendant walks into a court room during the jury selection process and sees 30-80 annoyed jurors, they sometimes decide to plea. Same with civil cases and settling.

I don't know how the Canadian courts work, but for one of the times I was not picked as a juror I had these questions (paraphrased, and 10-15 years ago):

Question: If this is the third time this defendant will have been convicted of possession with the intent to distribute, would you give him the maximum sentence of 12 years.
Answer from me: Yes.

Question: If the case comes down to the defendant's word versus a policeman's word, would you convict this defendant?
Answer from me: No. Never.

I'm not sure which question got me kicked off, or both. However, they were honest answers that both sides needed to know. Yes, I'm willing to send someone to jail for a long time for what I consider a major crime. No, I won't do it on a case of he said, she said, even if one person is the pope himself. Do your fething job and collect evidence.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kilkrazy wrote:

You would be surprised how seriously a bunch of ordinary people take their jury service. I've been on a jury and I was impressed by how this randomly selected bunch of plebs worked together with all their strengths and weaknesses to come to a just verdict.

I had a similar experience. The one time I was selected as a juror, it was 3 days of trial, 1 day of deliberation (conviction), and 1 day of assigning punishment.

It was grueling and tough, but everyone on that jury had a completely different background, education, etc. I learned a lot, but I won't say that I enjoyed it. We did our job, though.

Free money and a experience of a Jury Duty.