3, of which my number wasn’t called for 2 and 1 which was a month’s Grand Jury service.
Received a jury summons in the post: 6 or 7 times. I can’t remember exactly.
Actually had to front up at the court house: 3 times
Actually ended up on a jury: once.
I’ve only gotten a notice once. back in the summer of 2003. The case in question was settled out of court, so there was no trial. I have no idea what the case would have been about. I was kind of looking forward to it as it would give me a first-hand glimpse at how the legal system works. On the other hand I was glad there was no trial as it may have conflicted with my upcoming travel plans at the time.
Make sure you check for your state. This is a frequent misconception because not all states work that way. For instance from a FAQ I found about jury duty around here:
I was picked several times when I was around 20 or so. At first my mother had to send it back saying I was in Maryland at school. Then she had to send it back saying I was on active duty with the army and not in the state. I have been twice been sent notices from counties that I no longer live in. They were sent to the new address which was obviously not in their county.
I was sent one valid notice but called the first day as instructed and was told not to come in. I was later picked for a grand jury but once they got my form back with the occupation filled in they switched me to a petit jury. Never had to go in for that one either. Its been a while.
Got summoned for the very first time in 25 years of being a registered voter early this month, to appear today. State court: went in this morning, hung out for 3 hours in the jury assembly area with another several dozen prospective state court jurors and a couple hundred for superior court (Fulton County, GA), was informed that the pending case I was assigned to had been settled and I was free to go.
My wife, on the other hand, has been summoned three times in the last ten years or so.
I’ve been called twice. Both times they sent everybody home after an hour. I was rather disappointed (but, on the other hand, I was in grad school and I would have been in a bit of trouble if I’d ended up in a trial that lasted for weeks on end, so perhaps it’s just as well).
Been called around seven or eight times.
Twice or three times I didn’t to even show up because they never called my panel.
Twice I showed up and after an hour they told us to leave because it have been settled.
Three times I went to the court room but they got the jury seated before they called my name.
The last time was one of the times when the never got to my panel. The scary thing is that it was at the exact same time that they were putting together the jury for the last Micheal Jackson child molestation trial. Luckily that trial ended up being at the North County courthouse so it wasn’t my problem.
That’s not the only way, from the california court info page…
So even having a drivers license can put you on the list.
I’m with Bosda on this one. I’ve been never been called and I can’t figure out why?
Slight hijack - What list are potential jurors called from? Voter registration, tax rolls, licensed drivers, something else?
Twice, both three years ago. The first was the trial of a lawyer who defended drug dealers. Week long trial. The lawyer was accused of taking cocaine as payment for his services. We found him somewhat guilty (guilty of 2 of the 5 charges). Not too smart - when your client is a drug dealer and you know the FBI probably has him under surveillance, you should take care not to show up in any of those videos or recordings.
Second was a car stereo theft. Two hour trial. They guy probably would have been acquitted because there was no evidence he was at the scene. Except he admitted to being there. Guilty.
And now that it’s been three years, I’m back in the jury pool. I don’t mind, but please let the cases be short.
When I lived in Ohio:
Rocky River Municipal Court (serves several Cleveland suburbs, including North Olmsted, where I resided) – Summoned on two separate occasions. Each time, I called the courthouse the day before I was to report, only to be informed that the case had been settled.
U.S. District Court – Selected as an alternate and was on call for a year, but never had to report other than on selection day, when I was paid for my time.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court – Empaneled for a civil case (fender-bender insurance claim, woman hit couple’s car from behind, couple claimed damages in excess of what guilty driver’s insurance company thought reasonable, we gave husband and wife about half of what they requested). This is a really juror-friendly court – the “bullpen” features a library-like quiet room in which you can read a book of your own, or one of the volumes or periodicals stocked on the shelves. There’s also a “social room” equipped with jigsaw puzzles and board games, plus a decent cafeteria in the Justice Center’s main building. Plus the pay is (based on previous jury threads I’ve read) above average. I served for a week and made a couple hundred bucks.
Since moving to Lafayette:
Tippecanoe County Superior Court – You’re on call for a year, and I’ve been in the pool twice. Each time I’ve received a summons, I’ve called the bailiff on the eve of the reporting day, and been told “there will be no trial”. As the courthouse is within ten blocks of my apartment, service wouldn’t exactly be an undue imposition on my time!
I was summoned once. I thought for sure the lawyers would want to throw me out, due to me having a PhD and them not wanting a “smart” jury. They used up their all their preremptories on others and were stuck with me.
It was a civil wrongful death lawsuit against the LAPD. A teenage black teen was killed by a latino cop in south LA. Cops said he had a gun, plaintiffs said it was planted. After several weeks of testimony and several days of deliberation, jury finally went 9-3 in favor of the defense (the cops). (In California, civil cases only need 9 to make a decision, vs all 12 in criminal.) Jury was split on racial lines, 3 blacks for the plaintiffs, 9 white/latino/asian for the defense.
Overall, a very interesting experience, but forced me to put my life on hold for a month.
Three times in the span of two years. The first time I got it extended until spring break, but they never called my group to show up that week. The second time (literally a few weeks after the last time) they never called my group. The third time (maybe 6 months later) they never called my group to show up at the court house.
My dad, being an ass, laughed and laughed about how I got called into jury duty so many times in such a short span- bragging that he hadn’t been called once in 20 years.
The next week he got a summons.
That’s karma’s army right there.
Prepare to be bored. Leave your cell phone in the car, or at least take the battery out. Judges do not like phones ringing in court.
Once. District court. The way it worked in my county, if you got called, you had to check each day for a month to see if they needed you to go in to be a part of a jury pool.
I sat on 3 juries. Two guilty, one hung. I observed voir dire for 3-4 more but didn’t get picked.
They say that usually people end up on one or two juries, but for some reason more trials than usual went to court our month, so many people ended up on more.
The funny thing was that one day (while I was on the jury that ended up hung), they had an afternoon session where they rounded up everyone from the pool who wasn’t actually on a jury. This crime was more serious, and more newsworthy, than most of the others, so they expected some difficulty seating a jury. What they didn’t expect was that in addition to those who had read about the bank robbers in the paper, a member of the jury pool had been one of the hostages during the bank robbery. In addition, he had told his story to anyone who would listen over the first 3 weeks of the month. They ended up not seating a jury, but trying to “continue” the trial for the next month when there would be a new jury pool. There were concerns about running into the whole speedy trial thing. I don’t know how it worked out.
Canadians aren’t as fond of jury trials as those of you south of the border. That said, being a lawyer I’d be excluded from service according to the provisions of our legislation anyway.
Here in NSW the Sheriff’s Office compiles a jury roll every 12 months. The names on the roll are randomly selected from the electoral roll, which, in theory, includes the names of everyone over the age of 18 since it’s compulsory to enrol on the elctoral roll. If you don’t get chosen to go onto the jury roll then clearly there’s no way that you’re going to be called for jury service during the 12 months.
Tap tap tap. Is this thing on?
Like I said many posts ago you have to check with your state. I think very few narrow their roles to just registered voters anymore. The example I gave was of course the one I am most familiar with, my own state. Here basically if you do any state business your name is on the list. Voter registration, driver’s license, file state income taxes apply for property tax rebate, all will put you on the list.
I’ve never been called either.
I was called once for a county I no longer live in (it’s where my parents live - they sent the letter to their home, and apparently they still had me on some record as living there). Needless to say, I wrote them a letter explaining that I’m on the other side of the country, with proof (a current bill), and I was exempted. Yippee!