Jury Duty?

[PsychoMistress]

So ummmm, I just got a notice that I have to serve Jury Duty. The fuck? Jury Duty?

Has anyone ever done this before? What should I expect and how does it work?

[forgenjuro]

What happens if you completely forget about it.... like i did.... and now im living in Japan....

[Buck Jones]

I did it once; I even ended up being the foreman.

First you have to see if they need you, based on your number and the amount of people that actually show for duty. They have clear and specific instructions if you do get selected, so I wouldn't worry about it much. Remember, it's something virtually anybody off the street is supposed to be able to do (then again, that's supposed to be true of federal income tax forms... meh.... still, I wouldn't worry).


Just from me to you, I humbly recommend that you not try to get out of it somehow. More people need to view it as a civic duty and take it seriously. People like to get mad at the media-sensationalized verdict of the week when they're not even willing to do their part when called upon. It's stupid. Probably the same people that bitch & moan and can't find time to vote....

[Fudd]

That's what you get for registering to vote.

Seriously though, it's not that bad. At least it wasn't too bad in my experience. Alls ya gotta do is go to the courthouse on the specific day (also make sure you mail in that affidavit thing within five days) and do what they tell you to do.

[15:24:10] Fudd The Man: I just got the mail
[15:24:12] Fudd The Man: wtf
[15:24:15] Fudd The Man: I have jury duty
[15:32:52] My buddy Red: WHAT
[15:32:59] Fudd The Man: no joke
[15:33:04] Fudd The Man: I have fucking jury duty
[15:33:11] Fudd The Man: I have no job, I am eighteen years old
[15:33:27] Fudd The Man: My luck is such shit
[15:33:36] Fudd The Man: this makes me wonder, though
[15:33:39] Fudd The Man: if hobos get jury duty.
[15:45:18] Red: lol
[15:45:21] Red: they must
[15:45:26] Red: but they probably never get accepted
[15:45:28] Red: keep in mind though
[15:45:33] Red: you are 18, and you don't have a job
[15:45:46] Red: so they probably won't call you in
[15:46:13] Fudd The Man: fucking sweet
[15:50:58] Fudd The Man: red
[15:51:01] Fudd The Man: how do you know this?
[15:51:14] Fudd The Man: your knowledge of the adult world surprises me
[15:51:21] Red: because i know i'm free of jury duty for a few reasons
[15:51:33] Red: namely, my mom has had an fbi profile
[15:51:38] Red: which is why both of us are safe from it
[15:51:42] Fudd The Man: wow
[15:52:04] Red: basically
[15:52:12] Red: the more normal you are the more likely you are to be accepted
[15:52:27] Red: if you manage a public property, for instance, you're out
[15:52:29] Fudd The Man: Thank the Gods for my disheveled teenage hair
[15:52:34] Red: lol
[15:52:35] Red: oh hell yeah
[15:52:41] Red: don't go in there looking special
[15:52:42] Red: that's key
[15:52:52] Red: as far as i understand it
[15:58:12] Fudd The Man: I'm totally going to not bathe the for the week before my appointment

[15:28:47] Fudd The Man: so you know that Jury summons I got a while back?
[15:28:57] Red: yeah
[15:28:58] Fudd The Man: apparently you're supposed to fill something out and mail it back within five days
[15:29:06] Fudd The Man: they have it in red letters in like three different places
[15:29:09] Fudd The Man: saying it's important
[15:29:10] Red: LOL
[15:29:12] Fudd The Man: and yet
[15:29:16] Fudd The Man: well, I neglected it
[15:29:23] Fudd The Man: so I was worried for a bit thinking
[15:29:27] Fudd The Man: what'll they do to me?
[15:29:30] Fudd The Man: a fine? jail?
[15:29:38] Fudd The Man: but it also states
[15:29:51] Fudd The Man: that failure to mail it back results in automatic qualification for jury service
[15:30:01] Fudd The Man: They got in mah heayuhd...
[15:30:25] Red: LMAO
[15:30:30] Red: that's so fucked
[15:30:33] Red: they know you too well

[14:14:13] Fudd The Man: I had jury summons today
[14:14:18] Fudd The Man: I survived
[14:14:25] Fudd The Man: hours of waiting
[14:14:31] Fudd The Man: only for them to tell me they don't need me
[14:14:39] Fudd The Man: now they can't bug me for another 12 months
[14:14:40] Red: LOL
[14:14:41] Fudd The Man: yahoo
[14:14:44] Red: cold as ice

[17:49:10] Fudd The Man: you want me to tell you what waiting for jury duty was like?
[17:49:19] Fudd The Man: since you'll never have to do it
[17:50:54] Red: LOL
[17:50:57] Red: sure
[17:51:08] Fudd The Man: all right well
[17:51:19] Fudd The Man: I woke up early
[17:51:31] Fudd The Man: and they said in the letter to bring a "small project" to do
[17:51:34] Fudd The Man: since waiting may take a while
[17:51:44] Fudd The Man: I was considering bringing TGAT [the last book in a series he recommended to me]
[17:51:55] Fudd The Man: but I figured my mp3 player was enough
[17:52:02] Fudd The Man: since I've been to the MEPS
[17:52:09] Fudd The Man: and that was just the longest fucking day of my life
[17:52:13] Fudd The Man: how much worse could it be?
[17:52:38] Fudd The Man: so I get to the courthouse
[17:52:45] Fudd The Man: stand in line
[17:53:17] Fudd The Man: to receive a survey and questionnaire
[17:53:22] Fudd The Man: I fill it out and the waiting begins
[17:53:33] Fudd The Man: they ask if everyone has a badge
[17:53:48] Fudd The Man: and then they showed us a short, generic-ass movie about how jury duty is not so bad
[17:54:09] Fudd The Man: more waiting
[17:54:18] Fudd The Man: and I'm sitting at this table
[17:54:29] Fudd The Man: my closest tablemates were
[17:54:29] Red: LOL
[17:54:34] Red: they actually showed a movie
[17:54:36] Red: while you waited
[17:54:38] Fudd The Man: it wasn't even that long
[17:54:41] Red: about what you were waiting for?
[17:54:43] Fudd The Man: it was like twenty minutes
[17:54:55] Fudd The Man: well they have you wait to see if there's actually a trial that they need you for
[17:55:12] Fudd The Man: there was an old guy sitting across from me
[17:55:23] Fudd The Man: who started his waiting by reading The Wallstreet Journal
[17:55:38] Fudd The Man: then later on busted out some Italian textbook
[17:55:46] Fudd The Man: and did some Italian homework or something
[17:55:57] Fudd The Man: to my left
[17:56:05] Fudd The Man: some black women reading books
[17:56:09] Fudd The Man: to my right
[17:56:13] Fudd The Man: a white guy reading a book
[17:56:22] Fudd The Man: and sitting across from him, a girl with an mp3 player reading a book
[17:56:32] Fudd The Man: and sitting next to the old guy across from me
[17:56:43] Fudd The Man: there was this old Filipino guy who brought one magazine to read
[17:56:58] Fudd The Man: Now,
[17:57:08] Fudd The Man: mind you I was listening to music the whole time
[17:57:11] Fudd The Man: almost
[17:57:24] Fudd The Man: they gave us one 15 minute break after the movie was over
[17:57:29] Fudd The Man: and after that
[17:57:38] Fudd The Man: it was mostly people waiting/reading/talking/listening to stuff
[17:57:45] Fudd The Man: and the guy reading the book next to me
[17:57:50] Fudd The Man: I think I pissed him off a bit
[17:57:58] Fudd The Man: because my volume level was on 20/40
[17:58:01] Fudd The Man: as it always is
[17:58:11] Fudd The Man: the atmosphere was a little quiet, save the few people who were talking
[17:58:30] Fudd The Man: so I think he was a bit peeved because he didn't get the silence he expected
[17:58:38] Fudd The Man: that's also a reason why I feel I shouldn't bring TGAT
[17:58:46] Fudd The Man: since I usually read that before I sleep now
[17:58:52] Fudd The Man: with a dictionary at my bedside
[17:58:57] Fudd The Man: to look up all the fucking words Tad makes up
[17:59:22] Fudd The Man: the black woman sitting next to the old Filipino man had something else to do that day, I think
[17:59:35] Fudd The Man: cause she got pissed when one of the clerks said we may be there until 4:30
[18:00:10] Fudd The Man: I was enjoying the idea of me pissing off the guy next to me
[18:00:20] Fudd The Man: It felt like such an Alex Oliver moment
[18:00:24] Red: LOL
[18:00:27] Red: that's so wrong
[18:00:40] Fudd The Man: he kept doing a little stop-and-go with his reading
[18:00:48] Fudd The Man: on my mp3 player
[18:00:54] Fudd The Man: which only has like an hour's worth of music
[18:01:14] Fudd The Man: but I made it last from like 9 or 10 am til like 1 pm
[18:01:20] Fudd The Man: like some kind of Chanukah miracle
[18:01:30] Fudd The Man: the first few songs are kinda soft
[18:01:34] Fudd The Man: or not that noisy
[18:01:42] Fudd The Man: and then the other half is just some noisy shit
[18:01:56] Fudd The Man: so first I made the most out of the soft half
[18:02:17] Fudd The Man: and I noticed the guy next to me seeming frustrated on my second half
[18:02:26] Fudd The Man: I dunno, it might've just been the waiting time settling in on him
[18:03:02] Fudd The Man: when my second half came up
[18:03:06] Fudd The Man: I only skipped one song
[18:03:10] Fudd The Man: the "booty" mix
[18:03:16] Fudd The Man: the rest was some hard rock stuff
[18:03:33] Fudd The Man: I felt the booty mix might've brought too much bass
[18:03:37] Fudd The Man: didn't want to embarass myself that much
[18:04:01] Fudd The Man: eventually
[18:04:09] Fudd The Man: after a long time of waiting
[18:04:17] Fudd The Man: the black women start chatting with the old Filipino man a bit
[18:04:32] Fudd The Man: and he's telling about some of his previous jury summons experiences
[18:04:36] Fudd The Man: at Martinez, particularly
[18:04:43] Fudd The Man: and how it was his first time in Richmond doing this
[18:05:13] Fudd The Man: and one of the clerks
[18:05:19] Fudd The Man: says she's gonna give 48 names or so
[18:05:29] Fudd The Man: saying that these people are excused for a lunch break
[18:05:32] Fudd The Man: until 1 pm
[18:05:51] Fudd The Man: the frustrated black woman gets called as well as the guy reading a book and the girl with the mp3
[18:06:08] Fudd The Man: after some of us are a bit pissed that they got it easy
[18:06:14] Fudd The Man: the old Filipino man says
[18:06:30] Fudd The Man: "They only got called because the court's gonna need them later for a case."
[18:06:59] Fudd The Man: then like ten minutes later
[18:07:02] Fudd The Man: the judge comes in
[18:07:08] Fudd The Man: and says thank you all for coming, blah blah
[18:07:18] Fudd The Man: there'll only be one trial today
[18:07:22] Fudd The Man: so you're all excused
[18:07:26] Fudd The Man: we applaude
[18:07:37] Fudd The Man: and I'm amazed that the old Filipino man was accurate
[18:07:53] Red: lol
[18:08:05] Fudd The Man: so I guess the moral of the story is always listen to the old Filipino man?
[18:08:11] Red: thank god for family watched by the fbi
[18:08:15] Fudd The Man: as I was thinking on this, I realized that moral is bullshit
[18:08:27] Fudd The Man: as my grand-uncle is always full of crap
[18:08:30] Fudd The Man: or so my dad says
[18:08:40] Fudd The Man: most of the time my dad's right on that
[18:09:42] Red: well, you should always listen to the old filipino man
[18:09:44] Red: that's just life
[18:09:47] Fudd The Man: LOL

[akumachan]

Well as far as jury duty in california is concerned,

I just served a week ago for the first time. I had dodged my other summons all throughout college because I moved so much.

Generally if you dont respond to the notce then they really can't do anything to you because you can claim you never received it if for some reason you ever get into trouble. But generally people ignore the summons (which means they dont call the number to register the fact that they received the summons)

I usully moved about once a year in college and for a few years after that so it was easy to dodge them. Anyway, this year I decided to respond... maybe i was feeling civically minded.. or just curious.

Basically, the way it works here is that you call the number on your summons to register and then send in the portion of the summons after filling it out. Then you call again before the date of your summons to find out the exact day and time that you are supposed to show up at court.

When i got there, there were about 200 other possible jurors. They had us show up at 9AM. We had a 20 minute orientation where they showed us a cheesey video about the wonders of the judicial system, and then we sat down to wait for our names to be called in groups.

We were told that we would be called at some point and then sent to a court room, where we would undergo the selection process. Where lawyers would ask us general questions to figure out what types of people we were and therefore whether or not we would be favorable to have on the jury. Then we would either be acepted or excused. If we were accepted then we were committed to serving one trial. (however many days that would be) If we were excused then we would have to go back to the juror room and wait to be called again. If we were not called and accepted onto a jury by 3PM that day then we would have fulfilled our service.

In our case, we were lucky. After sitting in the juror room for about 2 hours reading a book, the supervisor announced that all cases that day had been settled or dismissed and we were all free to go. So we got out at 11:00 AM and I didnt bother going into work. I just took the rest of the day off.

thats how it worked for me anyway....

[PsychoMistress]

That all sounds about right.

I gotta be there at 9am and I'm Juror Number 41.

Whatever...A day off from work is a day off from work.

Is it true your job has to pay you for that day?

[Buck Jones]

No, from my understanding you merely can't be *fired* for doing jury duty. If you're temp/not salaried/no paid time off, you probably won't get paid by your employer.

The state compensates you, but the amount is nominal. Something like $18 or so per day if I'm not mistaken (thought I'd share since we're in the same state and all), although that was several years ago. Might have risen since then.


I think this is why many try to avoid; a day's wage at a nice job >>>>> $18. :rofl:

[Night]

That all sounds about right.

I gotta be there at 9am and I'm Juror Number 41.

Whatever...A day off from work is a day off from work.

Is it true your job has to pay you for that day?

Read up on your company policies.

In most cases, YES, your job WILL pay for every single day you have for jury duty so that means FREE DAYS off work. Based on that fact, I NEVER see the big deal in always trying to ditch jury duty unless you're a student and need to turn in hw and study and stuff, or if you REALLY need to be at work and what you do is THAT important. I'd personally be elated if I got selected on a murder trial that goes on for weeks!

If your job doesn't give jury duty pay... sorry, but that doesn't say much about that company but I guess for temps/co-ops/maybe contractors or people who don't have a "real" job, I suppose chances are you may not get it. But if you're a salaried with a nice job, regular full-time employee, I'd be very surprised if you don't get jury duty pay.

[YahnV]

I got lucky for jury duty. I only had to present myself for one case which I was dismissed from. I was only there for like 2 hours.

[Geese Pants]

I showed up.....got paid.....then went home.

There were no cases that day...............so I got lucky.

[UltraScrub]

I completely agree with Buck Jones. I've been called 3-4 times, and only served on a Jury once for two weeks. My company paid for two weeks max, so what I got was full two weeks pay, a shortened "work day" with a long lunch, (court in session from 9AM to 4:30, with an hour and a half lunch), and chilling out in downtown. It was actually kind of fun.

The other times I was dismissed before 1PM, when all of the cases were filled.

In any case, serving on a jury is a very interesting experience that everyone who is a citizen of this country should do at least once.

[Gumbercules]

I've gotten summoned like 3 times but they always tell me not to go every time I do the report on the phone thing, which is good.

[Akuma4Real]

That's what you get for registering to vote.


I wasn't registered to vote when they called upon me, but yeah that is one of the reasons why you are chosen. I think if you have a driver's license, that's enought to get ya.

[Lvl.3]

I wasn't registered to vote when they called upon me, but yeah that is one of the reasons why you are chosen. I think if you have a driver's license, that's enought to get ya.


Actually, once you get your permit, or state ID, you're in their records. Which means, you can be called upon when 18.

[2pacnbiggie]

how much do they pay u for jury duty?

[Infested Jester]

I had to go, all the cases that day settled so I got to go home after 2 hours. Got the day off with pay, plus 5 bucks the court sent me later on.

[nothingxs]

They actually called me in to a case (I was in the first group to stand up to go, woot), and it was about some guy who was convicted of a couple of counts of theft and one count I think of grand theft. The juror selection process (in FL at least) consists of both the prosecutor and the defense attorney AND the judge needling you with questions and asking you a bunch of shit.

I think I wasn't selected because I kept almost falling asleep. I kind of wanted to do it, too, since it looked like an interesting experience. But shit, I was so tired. :lol:

If you want to get in on Jury Duty, just agree with everything they say and don't actually answer their questions with anything out of the ordinary. Noone ever did anything to you or to someone related to you, your life has been completely ordinary, noone in your family has ever gone to court for anything other than jury duty. Yes, you can say the guy's innocent until he has been proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.

[Duralath]

Jury duty...might as well go.

Hey, you could get lucky like I did. I ended up driving out to the courthouse and signing in, only to find out that the case that they were selecting for was settled. They dismissed everyone and gave 'em a free pass out.

[Adam Warlock]

If you don't want to do play racist.