%#@*ing Jury Duty
Just got a letter yesterday that I have to report to jury duty. I am a little bit ticked. As a teacher, it would have been nice to miss a day or two of work. They want me to report on June 6th. Problem is, wife is leaving for Europe for two weeks with several of her girl friends on May 28th. I have no one to watch my kids. How exactly does jury duty work? Can you get it pushed back a couple of weeks?
Comments (10)
Funny story. I got a jury duty summons yesterday as well. I wonder if telling them that I go by the moniker \"JohnnyCornholer\" would get me excused...
I'm a teacher as well. If you are in the public service sector, its pretty hard to get out of jury duty. I always have mine rescheduled for the summer so I don't miss too much school days.\r
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I'm not sure about jury duty specifically, but I know the courts are somewhat forgiving about people's personal lives. Send a written letter to the court asking for a postponement and just be honest about your situation. Whoever reads the letter will be (hopefully) human and I would hope they remove you from the list, maybe opting for a later date.
If it's your initial session, you're probably going to go into a jury selection process. So they'll ask you some questions and your answers will determine if you're actually picked for service. My advice to you is act like a right wing nutjob and you'll be dismissed. Go on ranting tyraids about crime, death penalty, drug dears or whatever is relevant to the case and they'll kick you out pretty fast.
Where I live, each jury summons is numbered. You call the night before and they tell you through which number needs to report. If you fall after that number, you don't have to go. They also allow for a later reschedule or in rare cases being excused before service. Best thing to do is call and find out. They love to summons teachers!!!!! My wife is up 4 to my 1 summons in the last 3 years.
The only time my number was called I showed up for the selection process the next day looking like a total white supremecist. I was dismissed immediately. I didn't even say anything. I just wore a black shirt, blue jeans, black work boots, and a necklace that had little spikes on it (not a choker). It went well with my shaved head and goatee. :) Can't imagine why they sent me home! LOL!
My wife and mom were just selected for jury duty. Thye usually have you call in each day to see if you need to report for duty. Once you get selected to report, they either rule you in or out. If you get ruled out, you have to keep reporting after the date they give you. My wife had a two week period of reporting. She got selected for the Phil Hamilton Case. The funny thing is, they also select two alternates, which get dismissed before the jury deliberates. The case was about 7-8 days long, and she got lucky and got dismissed because she was the mystery alt.\r
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Good luck