First time jury duty just before big trip abroad?

[Elendil_s_Heir]

I also agree that you should try to postpone, if possible, but if not, just show up and explain your scheduling issues during voir dire. No lawyer is going to want you on the jury if you’ll be looking at your watch every half-hour.

In Ohio, lawyers and even judges are eligible to serve on juries, but are usually given a special instruction not to dominate fellow jurors, not to offer legal opinions, etc. Virtually every Ohioan is expected to serve on a jury, if called. Whether the trial lawyers strike the person during voir dire is another question.

[Cazzle]

@jezzaOZ

I’m in Australia so the law may be a bit different to other jurisdictions but I would guess not markedly so.

The first way to get out is via any of the occupations listed in the regulations. You generally can’t be a juror if you are a policeman or lawyer. Professions such as doctors and dentists are usually exempt. There is a fairly big list there.

You can then get out of appearing due to personal circumstances. For instance if you are a home carer for other people e.g. a Mother of young children. You can also get out for health reasons

You can also get out of duty if it would interfere with your occupation too much. For instance if you are a obliged to travel for your work or you are a key employee who can’t be spared. I think this includes most military personnel.

If you have to turn up to court your chances of being selected are low. Especially if you look ‘odd’ (hint).

Finally if you do end up in a jury you can walk out - usually after writing a nice note to the judge. Simply explain you don’t feel able to make a fair judgement in the case. e.g. you are biased against used car salesmen or whatever, or that your moral principles make you highly biased such as in illegal abortion cases, or you can’t handle the subject matter - such as child pornography cases.

I’ve been in some trials where the juror takes a couple of days to reach this conclusion and they’ve been let go. Either a spare juror is used (they often empanel a jury of 15 for this reason and drop the excess by ballot at the end of evidence) Or the judge can decide to go on with a reduced jury.

Then of course is the simple ploy of sending batshit crazy written questions to the judge such as is the defendant a practicing satanist or are they a liberal?

My dad’s co-workers say they just throw the notice out. It’s not sent by registered mail; no one can prove they ever even got it. I don’t know if they’re fair dinkum that this worked without any consequences, but they were bemused that dad was actually going to do his jury duty.

[Voyager]

@LSLGuy

Even if the OP does nothing in advance, the odds on actually being in court on service day, much less 2 weeks later, are between slim and astronomical.

It also depends on the case. I’ve been up for two murder trials. They had a gigantic pool, and while only a small fraction of us got picked almost everyone had to show up a week later to go through round 2, and then again for round 3 where they did the picking. The two juries I was on, for lesser matters, had much smaller pools and so a higher chance of getting selected.

[Voyager]

@JohnGalt

Part of the process of jury selection is picking people who aren’t going to be grumpy and angry that they lost money on pre-paid/non-refundable travel plans. Neither side wants a juror who will vote guilty out of spite, or not-guilty just to get out of the room.

If they excluded people who didn’t want to be there, they’d have trouble finding enough jurors.
The first time I got called was just before Easter, and the judge did ask about travel plans. She let off people who were just thinking of taking time off. I actually had a ticket to go to New Orleans, so I got excused with no problems. That was like 15 years ago. More recently the judges have been a lot stricter, and haven’t even asked about travel.
They also make it clear that a claim of being too critical at work to leave will require a letter from ones manager, not just a claim. I’m in Silicon Valley where everyone thinks he is vital, so this is probably a good move.

[md2000]

@jezzaOZ

I’m in Australia so the law may be a bit different to other jurisdictions but I would guess not markedly so.

The first way to get out is via any of the occupations listed in the regulations. You generally can’t be a juror if you are a policeman or lawyer. Professions such as doctors and dentists are usually exempt. There is a fairly big list there.

You can then get out of appearing due to personal circumstances. For instance if you are a home carer for other people e.g. a Mother of young children. You can also get out for health reasons

You can also get out of duty if it would interfere with your occupation too much. For instance if you are a obliged to travel for your work or you are a key employee who can’t be spared. I think this includes most military personnel.

If you have to turn up to court your chances of being selected are low. Especially if you look ‘odd’ (hint).

Finally if you do end up in a jury you can walk out - usually after writing a nice note to the judge. Simply explain you don’t feel able to make a fair judgement in the case. e.g. you are biased against used car salesmen or whatever, or that your moral principles make you highly biased such as in illegal abortion cases, or you can’t handle the subject matter - such as child pornography cases.

I’ve been in some trials where the juror takes a couple of days to reach this conclusion and they’ve been let go. Either a spare juror is used (they often empanel a jury of 15 for this reason and drop the excess by ballot at the end of evidence) Or the judge can decide to go on with a reduced jury.

Then of course is the simple ploy of sending batshit crazy written questions to the judge such as is the defendant a practicing satanist or are they a liberal?

I would imagine that a juror who appears to be trying to game the system or being deliberately smart-aleck obstructive may get the attention of the judge in a way he does not want? I suppose once the judge dismisses the juror he might also decide that contempt of court is a reasonable decision for that person?

[Elendil_s_Heir]

I have seen judges get quite pointed with smart alecks and those who were purposefully trying to be rude, ornery, opinionated or objectionable in order to get off jury duty, but have never heard of anyone actually being held in contempt of court for that. Not to say it doesn’t happen, but I suspect it is quite rare.

[md2000]

@Elendil_s_Heir

I have seen judges get quite pointed with smart alecks and those who were purposefully trying to be rude, ornery, opinionated or objectionable in order to get off jury duty, but have never heard of anyone actually being held in contempt of court for that. Not to say it doesn’t happen, but I suspect it is quite rare.

Could the judge then order they show up for jury duty over and over until they get picked for a case they can handle?