I just got my first jury duty notice and it directly coincides with a road trip to see a football game 600 miles away. (I already bought the tickets for God’s sake) If I try to reason with them, will I get anywhere? Is there maybe a way to postpone for a later date? I wouldn’t mind sitting on the jury, I’m really kind of curious about the whole thing.
It depends. You can always get moved if you’re a student or a teacher or something. It definitely doesn’t hurt to call, particularly if you make it clear that you just want a deferral, not an exemption.
But the people who choose the jurors aren’t those people at all - at least around here, the ones who pick the numbers out of God’s Bingo Ball have to be blind or children, by law.
The jury notices I get always have a section you can return asking for a one-time deferral. That’s pretty automatic. Sometimes they never get around to you again, sometimes they do. So, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Last year I got a notice for jury duty. On the notice, it told you how to ask for a deferral. My time was over Thanksgiving week–I’m sure many people asked for deferrals then. (I didn’t, and I ended up never being called in anyway. Now, I’m off the hook for two years!)
I’d just tell them that I already had a vacation planned for that time, and perhaps suggest a more convenient time.
Call the Jury Commissioner (or whoever the official listed on the summons is) and ask. They should be able to give you a deferral, particularly on a first summons. They usually are pretty reasonable, provided you are polite and respectful, and have not repeatedly ignored summonses.
In New York, if you ask to have your jury service postponed, you will usually be able to pick a date convenient for you in the next six months. Like all matters involving law and the courts, this may vary significantly based on state law and local practice.
Good luck, and enjoy the game.
In my experience, they’ll gladly give you a deferral for an already planned vacation or business trip. You could probably even be able to choose the exact date when you would like to serve.
This feels like a whoosh. If you’ve suckered me, good on ya, but…cite?
This will probably vary by location. Where I’m at, it’s not true; you respond when they contact you but you can’t proactively express a preference in advance.
Well, it said it on those materials they give you when you have to show up for the jury pool. I swear I’m not making it up - this was General Sessions county court. I’ll see if I can find anything online about it. I have noticed more than the usual number of blind people coming and going from that courthouse.
Cite - they actually changed it this year, this is an amendment to it allowing an impartial person or a computer. This is dated February 2007.
Actually, I’m from Baltimore and I’m going to Indy to see a Colts game, believe it or not. My girlfriend happens to love Peyton, otherwise I’d never set foot in that stadium.
But thanks anyway. 
I worked with jury selection over 20 years ago, in Hennepin County. There were no people doing the selection; it was all done by computer programs, selecting people at random. (There was a do-not-select file of people who had previously been selected, and shown that they had situations or medical conditions that made them permanently unsuitable for jury duty.)
The deferrals are indeed done by real people, and the ones I dealt with were pretty reasonable. But they had also been doing this for years, and had heard all the excuses and pitiful stories people tried to feed them – and were really pretty good at seeing thru that. Of course, that made them seem quite unreasonable to some people – mainly those who thought they were too important to have to do things like serve on a jury.
Does the notice include a phone number? Try calling.
Here in Harris County (Houston), we can re-set jury duty online. Let’s say I was told to show up on Wednesday, October 31st but prefer to stay home & tend my Caldron. I can go to the County’s website, log in with my Selection #, and select any other Wednesday in the next 6 weeks.
While your County might not be so high-tech, they might allow you to pick another date. Just ask.
In our court, the way the judge specifically puts it is “a postponement.” In other words, if you make it clear that you’re not trying to duck out entirely, that you intend to serve at a later time, you’ll probably find a sympathetic ear.