I’ve been registered for over 20 years, and never called. I want to do it!
If anyone wants to serve on a jury, move to DC. If you are without a felony conviction, I can pretty much guarantee that you will be called every year to two years.
I’ve been summoned at least 5 times since 2010, and have been on one murder trial. It was very interesting. I see one of the defense lawyers on TV every once in a while, that guy was amazing. (As much as I didn’t buy his client’s story, that is.)
I haven’t been called in more than 20 years. Before that, I was called every year! And in several different counties. I always got off because I was a reporter and could possibly be assigned to cover the trial. Now, no more newspapers, no more getting called. I’d do it, but it’s not some burning ambition.
I’ve been called twice, but my number never came up. The last time pissed me off seriously. I was in Cook County, and they have it set up intentionally that people who live in Chicago serve in the suburbs, and vice versa. I lived in Chicago - and like a lot of people in Chicago, I didn’t have a car. And getting around the suburbs via public transit is VERY DIFFICULT. I ended up missing a bus and having to stand around Woodfield Mall in freezing January temperatures waiting for the next bus for like, forty-five minutes. (The mall wasn’t open yet.) I finally got to the courthouse in Arlington Heights - late - and my number wasn’t called. If it had been, I don’t know what I would have done. It was simply not a feasible commute. And I would have happily served - in the city, which has actual public transportation. I called the courts and requested a change, and they refused. Jerks.
Wow, Kyla, that doesn’t make any sense. I’m in much the same situation. If I get called out to the suburbs, I’m either not going or I’m looking at a hefty cab fare. In fact, the last two times I was called the courthouse was on public transportation but really far away, so I was going to be late. I ended up spending around $30 on cab fare each time.
And if city people are judging suburbanites and vice versa, is that really a jury of your peers?
Yep, I live in California too, and I get called in like clockwork also, about every 18 months or two years.
However, in all this time I actually only serverd on a jury once.
I don’t know. Of course, I can’t be sure that it is a planned protocol, but when it happened I bitched about it a lot and it turned out the my suburban friends had had the exact opposite experience, of being called in to the city to serve. It seemed common enough, anecdotally, that they’re doing it on purpose. One of my friends had attempted to get her venue changed and was informed that they do it to lessen the chance that you’ll know the people involved.
:rolleyes:
There are 5.3 million people in Cook County! What the hell is the likelihood that you’re going to know the people involved? Stupidest reason ever.
In our area, state jury duty goes by county. (I don’t know about federal.) So I could get called to any courthouse in the county. Usually I get called to the big one in the county seat, which is about 20 miles away, and reachable with public transit. Sometimes I’m called to the small courthouse in the neighboring city, which is great. But once in a while I’m called to a courthouse on the other side of the county. That’s annoying.
I’ve been called every two years for the last eight. I’ve been able to get deferments because of childcare obligations. The last time annoyed the hell out of me as it was July. When I told them I had no childcare they told me tough shit. I left my daughter with a friend, went to the courthouse and was immediately dismissed because I had minor impending surgery.
I would have no problem serving if a) I got paid for it either from the state or from one of my employers and b) they would do something to help me find childcare.
Right now they expect me to cancel paid employment AND then pay for someone to watch my daughter when she’s not in school. That’s stupid and unfair. Jury duty should not cause financial hardship to the jurors. But this is NJ and they just don’t give a damn.
My husband has served three times. But his employer pays him for it and he obviously has me to watch our child. I really wish his service would count towards mine.
That was my experience, only it was once in 7 years.
I was seated for a 3 week trial in NYC in the middle of thesis writing. I finished the trial and got resummoned a month later. I delayed it a month or two as per their instructions and then I left the state. It was a great experience but I’ll give it a couple more years before I have to send someone to prison for the rest of their life.
I will agree that the jury room and instructions were not what I expected and I’m curious as hell what the lawyers thought as during deliberations we asked questions >10 times of the judge about what legal terms meant so we kept on having to come out for a 5 minute definition/clarification and new judge instruction.
As long as I am talking about it, the case involved two policeman who stopped (or so they claimed) because of a double parked car. One of the officers saw a gun in the car. The person who was borrowing the car also was wearing a bullet proof vest with 51 layers of kevlar (3 times thicker than a cop’s). So there was a whole overtone of “racial profiling” and did the cops have the right to stop that was being decided in a different court case, but it kept coming in to play as the defense attorney kept being warned about “going too far”.
The big hinge was that NY state law says that you can wear a bullet proof vest unless you are carrying a gun- in which case it shows “intent” and is a class 1 or 2 felony. So we had 3 clarifications on what “intent” meant legally and what “possession” meant as their was no proof that he was carrying the gun.
So the deliberation was very thorough and fair, but the first two things said when the jury room was first shut were, “It doesn’t matter if he’s guilty or not, let’s put this thug behind bars now before he kills somebody.” and “I know that neighborhood, every-last-damn-one-of-'em is guilty guilty guilty.”
The defense attorney was 100x better than the prosecutor and I think we would have acquitted except that last police officer to testify was the one who saw the gun and had been driving and pulled over. He had been on the police force for 17 years and this was the first time ever being in court and on the stand. He was nervous because he knew that his testimony was potentially destroying someone’s life, but it was his job to police the neighborhood and other neighbors testified that this cop would walk the sidewalks and talk to people and was really trying to make this neighborhood a better place. He saw the gun because he was a good person not because he was trying to put black men in jail (the defense position). It was fascinating but I believed much more strongly in jury of peers afterward than before.
Been an adult/registered voter for 18 years now. I got called once, in 2002, and ended up serving on a multiple murder trial 100 miles away for a little over two months. I was never called when I was a resident of Indianapolis, but got called that year right after moving across the city/county line to a southern suburb. Haven’t been called again since.
48 years old, had never been called.
Back in September, we went out for a joint celebration of my sister’s birthdays. My 12 year old nephew brings up the subject. I saw I’ve never been called, “knock on wood” and knocked on the table.
I get home and pick up my mail, there’s the summons. :smack:
Being that I was 2 months past completion of my bankruptcy and would NOT be paid for my time by my company, I pled poverty and asked for a delay. I will instead be reporting at the end of February.
I still get a San Francisco Jury Summons every 12 months, and I haven’t lived in California for 5 years. It arrives at my house. In Portland, Oregon. I fill out the change of address on the response form, check box G (yes I have it memorized) and return it. Then I get another one the next year.
Of course, their database knows my new address, since that’s where they send them.