How NOT to avoid jury duty...
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Superlizard
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:icon_thumright: Succinctly said. And he's right.
I ignored a jury duty summons once. They sent me a threatening letter saying they could throw me in jail. Screw 'em.
I ignored a jury duty summons once. They sent me a threatening letter saying they could throw me in jail. Screw 'em.
ByteFrenzy
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As far as I'm concerned there is exactly one failproof way to get out of jury duty. When you get called, you present yourself on the appointed date, and when asked to present your position on the case, you go on to proclaim one of two randomly chosen views:
- Yes sir, I'm so glad to be chosen to be on the jury because all these people who do these horrible things are all the same and even if they can't help themselves because it's in their genes there's really no excuse so I'm going to send this monster to jail for the rest of his life! (* assuming your state doesn't have the death penalty)
or
- Yes sir, I'm so glad to be chosen on this jury because it's clear this poor boy had no chance from the beginning and if he ever did anything wrong it was only because of his upbringing so if ever there was anyone deserving to be set free it's him and I'm so glad it's me who will be able to make sure that happens...
At least in Belgium, if a jury member does not demonstrate a neutral stance before the trial starts, he has to be rejected from the jury.
- Yes sir, I'm so glad to be chosen to be on the jury because all these people who do these horrible things are all the same and even if they can't help themselves because it's in their genes there's really no excuse so I'm going to send this monster to jail for the rest of his life! (* assuming your state doesn't have the death penalty)
or
- Yes sir, I'm so glad to be chosen on this jury because it's clear this poor boy had no chance from the beginning and if he ever did anything wrong it was only because of his upbringing so if ever there was anyone deserving to be set free it's him and I'm so glad it's me who will be able to make sure that happens...
At least in Belgium, if a jury member does not demonstrate a neutral stance before the trial starts, he has to be rejected from the jury.
ByteFrenzy said:
This is true in the US too, but a couple years back some guy got in trouble for trying to exploit that. When he was being questioned during jury selection, he was like "Oh I hate black people, and white people, and Mexicans," making it really obvious that he was just trying to say anything biased to get out of jury duty. The judge held him in contempt :icon_tongue:
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OzziePete
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In Australia the jury selection process differs from State to State.
In my state of New South Wales, you are sent a jury summons first. There is a whole list of reasons you can claim exemption from presenting yourself on the day. Same as the smoking gun article, you have to file a document to the court stating your reasons for exemption.
When I was younger, I got a jury summons 3 years in succession. They have a poll of eligible persons & stay with that until the poll gets too low then they redraw another, from what I was told. The trick if any, was not to qualify for inclusion on any poll.
There are a list of professions and circumstances that do disqualify you from being summonsed for jury duty.
I found out if you became a Justice of the Peace, you would automatically be excluded as your role as a JP is to witness (notarise) documents that could end up in court. In those days, you merely had to be over 18 and have no criminal record to qualify as a JP. So I did that and was left alone.
Later on I went into a profession that also excluded me from jury service (Federal Law enforcement).
A friend's father told me (when I was always having these jury summons to attend to) that the quickest way to be 'challenged' by a lawyer in a court case was to turn up looking like the worst used car salesman, dressed in loud shirt, way out of date suit or a very cheap one, the tie that definitely doesn't match the shirt, slick back the hair and wear sunglasses. He did that when he really needed to be excused one time, but had no lawful excuse, and he was challenged the minute he stood up to answer his name!
Since leaving federal law enforcement my name hasn't come up yet, and my JP qualifications have lapsed since they revamped that system a few years back.
In my state of New South Wales, you are sent a jury summons first. There is a whole list of reasons you can claim exemption from presenting yourself on the day. Same as the smoking gun article, you have to file a document to the court stating your reasons for exemption.
When I was younger, I got a jury summons 3 years in succession. They have a poll of eligible persons & stay with that until the poll gets too low then they redraw another, from what I was told. The trick if any, was not to qualify for inclusion on any poll.
There are a list of professions and circumstances that do disqualify you from being summonsed for jury duty.
I found out if you became a Justice of the Peace, you would automatically be excluded as your role as a JP is to witness (notarise) documents that could end up in court. In those days, you merely had to be over 18 and have no criminal record to qualify as a JP. So I did that and was left alone.
Later on I went into a profession that also excluded me from jury service (Federal Law enforcement).
A friend's father told me (when I was always having these jury summons to attend to) that the quickest way to be 'challenged' by a lawyer in a court case was to turn up looking like the worst used car salesman, dressed in loud shirt, way out of date suit or a very cheap one, the tie that definitely doesn't match the shirt, slick back the hair and wear sunglasses. He did that when he really needed to be excused one time, but had no lawful excuse, and he was challenged the minute he stood up to answer his name!
Since leaving federal law enforcement my name hasn't come up yet, and my JP qualifications have lapsed since they revamped that system a few years back.
Volitions Advocate
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I thought you had to be served with papers didn't you? (i'm not sure how it works in Canada, but I have had friends summoned)
Just don't answer the door.
Just don't answer the door.
Xplorervoodoo
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In Nova Scotia, they send you a letter which you have to reply to. I got one once, but gave a financial reason for a reply. They called me a couple weeks later to confirm, and that was it, no big deal really.
Wana_make_a_guitar
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I don't think I've ever had any experience with a court ever before, so this post is useless, i'm just trying to catch up to max! :laughing7:
G
GP
Guest
Jury duty sucks. But when I had to do it, I did, without any stupid games to try to get out of it. If I ever end up on the other side of the courtroom, I hope none of you are called for my jury. Peoples' lives and livlyhoods can be at stake. Believe it or not, it is not about you and your minor inconvienence.
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OzziePete
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GP said:
Minor inconvenience yes, I can stand that. But being hit with jury summons after jury summons for nearly 3 years - & having been summonsed 3 times in one of those years - is more than most people term minor.
Bear in mind you don't get paid by your employer for the time you are selected and the 'compensation' that you receive by the courts is award based pay only, you end up losing money for the privilege.
There is a lot more that I could say about the judicial system I tried to work under in my roles in federal law enforcement and in my roles when working with a finance company recovering bad debts through the civil process. Not a lot of it is a glowing reference for the hope that justice will be served if you end up on a charge, or get sued civilly, and don't have the money to pay for some high flying lawyer or barrister.
Rick
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In NYS you get a letter from the county or feds and they tell you when to go. It used to be that if you were a doctor or a lawyer, and some other jobs you could get an automatic pass, but not anymore. I've gotten out of jury duty three times now, each time because, conincidently, I moved to another county.
Getting out of jury duty:
Method 1 = "I always trust the police."
Method 2 = "I have to use the rest room 10 times a day."
Or then there's my friend Steve's method. They asked him to fill out some paperwork when he got there, to which he replied "I'm not filling out anything. There is no law that says I have to. I don't sign anything without my lawyer present." They let him go after 1/2 hour.
Method 1 = "I always trust the police."
Method 2 = "I have to use the rest room 10 times a day."
Or then there's my friend Steve's method. They asked him to fill out some paperwork when he got there, to which he replied "I'm not filling out anything. There is no law that says I have to. I don't sign anything without my lawyer present." They let him go after 1/2 hour.
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