Jury Duty

lockedup5

lockedup5

overcompensating underachiever
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Location
Burke County (Hildebran)
:fuck-you: Sucks!!!

What's the chances of me getting out of or deferring my jury duty based on vacation reservations? It's going to suck screwing up a nice camping trip due to this crap. I don't mind doing my duty but only when it's convenient.

I've got to drive 20 miles one way to Morganton which is $16 per round trip in fuel to make what $10 per day?
Going in the morning to talk to the judge to see what he will do. I'll let yall know.
 
I had it this week (in Morganton...for the second time in two years) and I live in Charlotte. The woman was quite the heinous bitch to everyone for some unknown reason, but they didn't even take any names and told everyone to go home and we weren't going to be needed--made me wonder how much they really do care if you actually show up. Supposedly there is a number you can call a few days in advance to find out what will happen with yours.
 
Tell them you racist & sexist. then go home..
 
I had it a few years back, missed 2 days work to not get selected. I checked the fines / penalties for no show. Seems like it was only a $100 fine or so. But I wasn't sure and I was to chicken to try. If that was the case, you're better off to not show and pay the fine. Some how I think there's more than that tho.

What really pisses me off is, out of all the people that showed up, only about 5% was unemployed! Yup, in a year with the largest unemployment rate since the great depression, 95% of people selected had to miss work. That makes no sense to me.
 
Never had it, but the wife has had it 4 times in the last 10 years.
 
braxton357 said:
I suggested they just take inmates from the prison and use them as jurors, they've got nothing better to do.
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I'll be damned if I want a bunch of criminals deciding MY fate!
 
I had a good experience last year which was my first time on jury duty. I learned alot about our legal system. One thing that stuck with me from my week serving. If I or my family need a jury I hope enough good jurists show up so we can have a proper trial.
 
I have been called 3 times in the last 5 years. The first two times, I called the night before and was not needed for service. This past February I had to report for Jury Duty. There was a pool of about 50 to 60 people there. The first thing they did was check attendance. Two people were not on the list for that day's service. It turns out that both of these people had reported for service on the wrong day. They were both suppose to have reported the day before. Their punishment for not reporting on the correct day was simply excusing them from service.

After about two and half hours of jury selection, finally 12 were agreed on. The rest of us, including myself, were excused.

I have no idea how they pick the people to receive jury summons. I have been summoned 3 times in 5 years, and I know many people that have never had a summons (registered voters, licensed drivers, property owners, etc).
 
well I went in this morning along with about 4 or 5 other people that had been selected and I told them my situation and we were all excused. I told them I don't mind doing it as long as it's convenient thinking the judge would just schedule me another week but he just excused me. Heck yeah I'm happy.
 
lockedup5 said:
I don't mind doing my duty but only when it's convenient.
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It's nice to know that your personal convenience comes ahead of your duty to your fellow countrymen.

I love how the juries end up being only the people "who couldn't get out of it".
Don't know about you guys but if I were ever accused of a crime and needed a jury, i'd want a bunch of folks that were doctors, lawyers, professsors, and other smart folks who have really important jobs (well ok so we could do without a lot of lawyers).
I actually find it quite frustrating knowing I'll probably never get to serve b/c DAs also tend to throw out people who are too educated.

GREENCHEROKEE said:
What really pisses me off is, out of all the people that showed up, only about 5% was unemployed! Yup, in a year with the largest unemployment rate since the great depression, 95% of people selected had to miss work. That makes no sense to me.
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I'd bet that's b/c a lot of people who are unemployed are also ineligible to serve on a jury...

BTW the selection system is *random*. The thing about being random is, you're going to have what seems like "clumps" of repetition, some people get called repeatedly while others don't. That's just how random works.
 
RatLabGuy said:
It's nice to know that your personal convenience comes ahead of your duty to your fellow countrymen.

I love how the juries end up being only the people "who couldn't get out of it".
Don't know about you guys but if I were ever accused of a crime and needed a jury, i'd want a bunch of folks that were doctors, lawyers, professsors, and other smart folks who have really important jobs (well ok so we could do without a lot of lawyers).
I actually find it quite frustrating knowing I'll probably never get to serve b/c DAs also tend to throw out people who are too educated.



I'd bet that's b/c a lot of people who are unemployed are also ineligible to serve on a jury...

BTW the selection system is *random*. The thing about being random is, you're going to have what seems like "clumps" of repetition, some people get called repeatedly while others don't. That's just how random works.
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Alright smart ass you take off work and serve then and see if it's not inconvenient to you. Oh I forgot your to smart.. Anything that takes time from my two boys, wife, and my lively hood is an inconvenience to me. Atleast they could send me a letter and ask which week would be best for me say in the month of June. That would make more sense to me.
 
I got picked last year for the first time. I was dreading going, but figured I would get it over with. Long story short, I was selected to be on the jury. By then I thought this will be pretty cool with a chance to convict this scumbag for the drug charges. Then the interviewing started... where you live, what do you do, what does your wife do and the next thing I know I was booted. Seems they do want a certain type of people to serve.
 
I was selected and the weeding out of jurors began. The case involved a rear end collision that left the guy who was hit w bad/permanent injuries. The defense had 3 lawyers who rejected about 20 in a row. After questioning me, when asked if there was any reason I could not participate as a juror I honestly said that I had been short on work for months due to the bad economy ( construction ) but did have a monthlong+ job now and needed to work. I explained I felt sympathy for the guy who was rearended, ( and only had 1 lawyer ) and would also be in a hurry to get the trial overwith so I could go back to work........I was dismissed instantly.
 
lockedup5 said:
Alright smart ass you take off work and serve then and see if it's not inconvenient to you. Oh I forgot your to smart.. Anything that takes time from my two boys, wife, and my lively hood is an inconvenience to me. Atleast they could send me a letter and ask which week would be best for me say in the month of June. That would make more sense to me.
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Guess what - when I lived in NC I got called 3 times. Twice I cancelled the plans I had at my "work", which was a project I was running in grad school which my degree depended on, only to find out the night before that I wasn't needed. Yeah I was pissed, but hey that's how it works. Third time, went in, spent the day waiting, but never selected for jury. Day wasted. Guess what, I was supposed to give a presentation to my thesis committee that day, I had to reschedule it. Inconvenient? Yes.

Yes, big pain in the ass. I have a wife and kids too. And if I were to get called in today, do the math today for the "loss of work" cost to the US Government (my employer) it'd be quite a bill. But you know what, it's my civil duty, I'll do it every time.
The way I see it, there are people making waaay bigger sacrifices to keep our society civil - police, firefighters, soldiers. Giving up a day or two every couple of years is really pretty fucking trivial in the grand scheme of things.
I just think about the guy on the stand. For all you know, he could be completely innocent. You think this is inconvenient for you? What about him? Or, what about the people he allegedly victimized? They sure as hell have been inconvenienced. And you can bet that on either side, it's been waaaay more than a day off of work. They don't use juries for trivial shit (in theory, anyway).

I'm sorry it's inconvenient. It sucks all around. But you're not getting any sympathy from me just b/c yout don't want to go. Kudos on getting it delayed.
 
RatLabGuy said:
I actually find it quite frustrating knowing I'll probably never get to serve b/c DAs also tend to throw out people who are to educated
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so because i was selected i am now uneducated........(lol)

they went through jury selection for a full day on my case, and 2 days on the trial. the thing that pissed me off was that it was a young oriental boy charged with a dui. he had spun his car off the median of the beltline and tried to convince the police that he went and had drinks AFTER he spun the car and waiting for the tow truck.
i own my business and i am the majority money maker at the shop, i hated to basically "shut" my shop down for 3 days, but it was my civic duty, so i did it.
the other thing that really pissed me off was, why does the judge get a 2 hour lunch?
 
The case I was allmost on was about $$$$$$, damages, pain and suffering. It was expected to last 2 weeks!!! I could not afford to miss that much work. The injured guys Lawyer was James Scott Farrin and he was smileing the whole 2 days I was there for jury selection. It was not going to be a win or loose case, just a how much the insurance co. was going to have to pay thing and James seemed to think it was a done deal from the getgo!! I/e a waste of time. The insurance cos 3 lawyers seemed nervous and didn't seem to like ANY of the jurors so I expect it took more than 2 weeks to try the case.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Guess what - when I lived in NC I got called 3 times. Twice I cancelled the plans I had at my "work", which was a project I was running in grad school which my degree depended on, only to find out the night before that I wasn't needed. Yeah I was pissed, but hey that's how it works. Third time, went in, spent the day waiting, but never selected for jury. Day wasted. Guess what, I was supposed to give a presentation to my thesis committee that day, I had to reschedule it. Inconvenient? Yes.

Yes, big pain in the ass. I have a wife and kids too. And if I were to get called in today, do the math today for the "loss of work" cost to the US Government (my employer) it'd be quite a bill. But you know what, it's my civil duty, I'll do it every time.
The way I see it, there are people making waaay bigger sacrifices to keep our society civil - police, firefighters, soldiers. Giving up a day or two every couple of years is really pretty fucking trivial in the grand scheme of things.
I just think about the guy on the stand. For all you know, he could be completely innocent. You think this is inconvenient for you? What about him? Or, what about the people he allegedly victimized? They sure as hell have been inconvenienced. And you can bet that on either side, it's been waaaay more than a day off of work. They don't use juries for trivial shit (in theory, anyway).

I'm sorry it's inconvenient. It sucks all around. But you're not getting any sympathy from me just b/c yout don't want to go. Kudos on getting it delayed.
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RatLabGuy for President!!!!
He served on a jury three times!!


Never said I didn't want to serve. I just didn't want to screw up my vacation plans for it.
 
transman731 said:
so because i was selected i am now uneducated........(lol)
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Oh come on now Lee you know what I mean.
People assume if youve got s PhD youre really smart (often not true) and ask a lot of qurstions and cant be easily convinced of something (also not always true) which DAs think is bad.

They typically ask if you are self employed, and let you out if serving will cause hardship.
 
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