[emphasis added]
An obvious question comes to mind… 
I’ve been called for jury duty three times but never had to serve. The closest I got was to the selection process, but a jury was seated before they got to me.
I have served on a federal grand jury. Grand jury duty is way less stressful because you aren’t deciding guilt or innocence, just whether or not there will be a trial.In my state the service period was for a year and a half, with attendence every six weeks, so twelve times in all. We were told a session could last three days, but only once did we have to serve more than a day.
My non-citizen husband (green card) gets called every year, regular as clockwork. I haven’t been called in over 30 years living in the same city. I don’t get it, clearly the current system is not the most efficient at spreading jury duty around but I don’t know how it works anyway.
The court should have records. But, sometimes you’re called by a different court, and you will have to serve again. For example, if the last one was in state court, this one could be for federal court. Or some municipal court. Depends on where you are and how the courts are set up. But the federal/state thing is always a possibility.
The defendant can certainly waive his or her right to a jury trial. There’s sometimes an open question whether the prosecution also has the right to a jury. (and thus would have to waive too) Most prosecutors are happy to have the case tried to a judge instead of a jury, it goes faster, and less chance of something weird happening. (exceptions exist)
I was involved in a civil suit, suing my ex-wife when she failed to follow the divorce agreement, causing me financial problems. The judge who granted the divorce ordered that alimony payments could be withheld in the amount of my legal expenses, so I hired some very expensive lawyers.
One of their first steps was to file a motion demanding a jury trial, as a strategic move.
Wait. Does this mean the jurors are permitted to bring food / drink?.. or that anyone in the building is permitted to eat the jurors (and nothing else)? 
I got a questionnaire for our county, some time last year. Filled it out online and forgot about it.
Then we were away for a week at the beginning of this month, and I came back to an envelope from the county with something brightly colored inside. Yep - a summons.
For next week. When I’ll be 3 time zones away.
Luckily it was pretty straightforward to go online and request a different date. It’s now May 31st. Dunno whether to hope things will be slow because it’s right after a holiday, or backed up because it’s right after a holiday.
Until about 10 years ago, I truly could not have served, due to daytime sleepiness issues. Nowadays, I’ve got medication to help with that.
Oh yeah: when I got the summons, one of the things I could have responded was something to the effect of “I’m at too great a risk of COVID to be shut up in a room with other people”.
Having several conditions that put me at higher risk, I was seriously considering checking that box. I’m vaxed and double-boosted, so I suppose I’ll risk it. Can’t be much riskier than spending a week in “Masks are UNAMERICAN” Florida earlier this month.
Hah - just realized there’s another medical reason I might want to avoid serving: there are times when I need a bathroom break. Like, immediately. Should I use that to get out of serving? Well, it “depends”. I don’t actually have a doctor’s note, but I see my gastro before my date, so I might ask him. I’d really like to be able to serve, dammit.
Has anyone ever been involved in a case where the jury was sequestered? Seems like that’s a tool used more for dramatic (or comedic) purposes on TV, than in real life, but I have no clue.
I’ve long wondered about the capricious nature of who gets picked.
I seem to get jury duty for some level of court about every 2-3 years like clockwork. Doesn’t matter what county or city I live in; every 2-3 years I get called. I think it’s been eight or nine times.
I’ve been part of one trial, 3 panels (inc. the trial jury) and been dismissed without even making it to a panel 5 times. Two of those were of the variety where I showed up, was told that the trials had all settled and I was free to go. The other three were ones where I went to the main jury room and sat around for several hours until they eventually turned me loose.
Meanwhile I have friends who NEVER get called, or very rarely. My wife gets called at about half the rate as I do, and absolutely never ends up on a jury (lawyers generally won’t pick another lawyer to be on their jury!).
It can be fun; once I was on a jury panel and basically tainted an entire jury pool because the defending attorney was an idiot. He stated that the defendant had multiple domestic violence convictions in the past, and asked if any of us couldn’t set those aside for trying this other domestic violence case. I said I couldn’t, and he asked me why. You should have seen the blood drain out of his face when I pointed out that multiple other convictions for the same thing represents a pattern of behavior and wasn’t something that I could or even should ignore when considering this guy’s case.
If you let the judge know (can be done privately if you prefer) they will make allowances for you. If it’s constant thing, they may excuse you to avoid the delays, but if’ it’s just something that could happen at any time but usually doesn’t, they’ll make it work for you.
Very uncommon. Very very uncommon. Mob trials are the only one’s I’ve seen where they do that these days.
The second time I served the judge told us that once you were on a jury you’d get called every year like clockwork since you have been proven dependable. Worked for me.
I lived 15 years in NJ and never got called once, but have always been called in California.
Now I’m over 70 I think I can get out of it, but didn’t investigate it this time.
I was wondering, couldn’t the courthouse staff have contacted you by phone or email to let you know not to show up, instead of wasting your time? That would really irritate me if that situation happened to me.
I’m in California, and I’ve had a lot of jury duty experience. A lot more in the early years. I swear they know which companies pay for unlimited jury duty service, because when my company did, I was called for jury duty like clockwork. I’ve been on four panels (one ended with the parties settling), and I’ve served numerous times (including call-ins) where I never got on a jury.
When my company changed their policy and only paid for two weeks jury service, the frequency of summonses dropped noticeably.
IME, juries sincerely cared about doing their duty. It was always interesting and sometimes heartbreaking. The last panel I served on was a three strikes trial, and one of the features of that is the jury is not told it’s three strikes until after. The guy was obviously guilty of what he was charged with (keeping a set of sheets when he was trying to do an exchange – he kept both sets because the clerk was a dum-dum). It put him in prison. I’d have definitely done a jury nullification deal if I’d known. He was an ex-addict who had a couple of petty thefts decades in the past, had turned his life around, and surrendered to a temporary lapse of judgment. Really sad. The worst part was the defense attorney cursing us out afterwards. Fortunately, the DA came after and soothed our feathers. Like what were we supposed to do?
There was some sort of questionnaire and other nonsense that they wanted me to do, and had I done it earlier than I did (night before, of course), then they might have emailed me letting me know. That’s just for the most recent county court one.
The others were ones where they call people, and as cases come up, they grab prospective jurors from the group. Sometimes they settle at the last minute, sometimes they delay the court date, or there are other legal shenanigans that go on.
For me anyway, they were welcome paid mornings off work where I got to do some serious reading. For others, I’m sure it was a lot worse, because they weren’t being paid, etc…
I reported for duty last Tuesday. I’ve been summoned at least 5 times in the past 23 years. Most times, my number is high enough that I don’t have to go in. Once I went in and didn’t get picked for a panel. twice, including last week, I went to Voir Dire but did not get picked to serve. I’m so glad that I didn’t get picked this last time because if was a double murder trial from a gang-based night club shooting from 2016. I couldn’t look up any details during voir dire or selection even though I was itching to. But when they let me out for the day, I was glad not just to be getting out of a possible 2-week trial, but also not having to decide on guilt or innocence for murder.
In Los Angeles County, the court absolutely knows your employer’s jury duty policy. Last time I got called in (4 days of voir dire, and 2 rejections away from being an alternate before both sides agreed on a jury), we had to fill out a questionnaire that asked how many days our employers allowed and whether it was paid or unpaid. Then they pointed to a big ass binder the size of 5 or 6 old telephone books, and said “If you don’t know, you can look it up in those binders. Every employer in the county is listed in there”. The implication was “we’ll know if you try to lie”
Heh. I knew it. But one time ages ago they tried to claim they didn’t know.
Yeesh. It IS a near-constant thing. Can be managed, somewhat, by tweaking dosage and timing of some medications.
I see my gastro next week for a procedure. I may ask for a note stating that I occasionally need bathroom breaks on very short notice.
If you want to serve, most judges will accommodate your condition. If you want to get out of it, this is probably a valid excuse.
I kinda do want to serve!
But now I’m curious about the logstics. Can a juror basically raise his/her hand and say “Potty time!!!” and the court recesses?