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Old 01-29-2011, 07:53 PM
 
2,046 posts, read 5,563,878 times
Reputation: 1218

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spock's Beard View Post
I've been called in for Jury duty three times in the past 4 years. In a city of 2mil+ people, that's bull[insert any word]. I know people in their 40's and 50's with no criminal record who have only been called once or enver at all.

Sometimes I feel I as a law-abider am messed more with by government than criminals are.

And don't give me that civic duty crap. Forced mandatory involuntary servitude under threat of government punishment has a word assigned to it in the dictionary, and that word is hardly "civic duty." Such a thing is hardly Constitutional, too. Thanks for the six dollars. I'm so glad the government obeys it's own minimum wage laws, especially after forcing innocent law-abiding citizens into a major damn inconvenience.

I wish I knew who to contact to tell them to just leave me the hell alone already.

They can call me, I enjoy going... and yes I feel its my civic duty - but that is just my thought and I do respect yours.
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Old 01-30-2011, 12:38 PM
 
1,316 posts, read 3,392,522 times
Reputation: 940
If someone is fortunate enough to work for a company that pays for their jury duty or if they are salaried, they should turn the tables around and ask themselves whether getting paid $40 a day for a whole week or more is worth it when the company doesn't pay for jury duty or when they are not salaried and when they have bills to pay and other financial obligations to take care of. If you were in that situation, would you REALLY want to go and take part in your civic duty or instead choose to support your family and other financial obligations so that you STILL have cell phone service and a place to live at the end of the month?!

No one should knock someone down for not wanting to serve when there are legitimate and good reasons for someone not wanting to do it, especially when we are in a recession. I also do agree the process should definitely be much more fair and refined.

Regardless, I have no qualms about going in the front of the judge and/or lawyers and saying whatever it is I have to say to get out of jury duty ("I can always tell who is guilty just by looking at someone" is the line I’ll use).
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Old 01-30-2011, 12:55 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
8,399 posts, read 22,881,135 times
Reputation: 4435
Don't count on these so-called "guaranteed comments" to get you out of jury duty, the courts have heard them all before and from what I've seen, they do nothing to increase your chances of not serving. We had one young man whose father and two brothers were all serving jail sentences, which he proclaimed thinking it would spare him from being selected. It didn't.

About the best advice I can give is to answer the questions as completely as possible, but don't offer any extra information. It appeared that those who were verbose and rambled on were the ones who got picked.

Of course, nothing is going to ensure you will or will not be chosen; but just be forewarned that some of these antics can and will get you in trouble with the court. Don't go as a potential juror and end up being a defendant!

Cheers! M2
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Old 01-30-2011, 06:10 PM
 
1,316 posts, read 3,392,522 times
Reputation: 940
Quote:
Originally Posted by majormadmax View Post
Don't count on these so-called "guaranteed comments" to get you out of jury duty
I would never count on absolutely getting excused, but I'm definitely going to play the part of someone who isn't a "prospective juror" when I get in there. Ya better believe that I will.
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Old 01-30-2011, 07:21 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
8,399 posts, read 22,881,135 times
Reputation: 4435
You can try it, but you can bet a dollar that thousands before you have done the same without the desired results...and I would go as far as to recommend against doing so as only brings unwanted attention towards yourself.

But good luck if you still decide to go that route, let us know how it turns out!
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Old 01-30-2011, 07:54 PM
 
4,297 posts, read 7,160,879 times
Reputation: 3440
As I posted earlier in the thread, I served several times over the years, but was only selcted to sit on a jury panel once.

I don't know if it's always been this way, but I came to learn (at both COSA Municipal & Bexar County), that when selected as a prospective juror for a jury panel (when your name is called in the Central Jury Room, and you are taken with a bunch of other prospective jurors to a courtroom), your juror number has a lot to do with whether or not you are actually selected to sit on that jury.

The first person whose name is called will be juror number 1. The number of prospective jurors called will vary, but let's say it totals 50. So, the last person called will be juror number 50. They need 12 jurors for that particular trial or civil case. The way they put it, Juror number 1 will be empaneled to sit on the jury, unless stricken by one of the attorneys, or the judge. Juror number 50 has the least chance of being picked. In fact, almost no chance.

I'm not a legal expert, but I'm certain the attorneys are only allowed a limited number of "strikes". The judge may have more leeway. Even in a worst-case scenario, there would be almost no chance there are any "strikes" left by the time they get to number 50.
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Old 01-30-2011, 10:19 PM
 
1,316 posts, read 3,392,522 times
Reputation: 940
Quote:
Originally Posted by majormadmax View Post
You can try it, but you can bet a dollar that thousands before you have done the same without the desired results...and I would go as far as to recommend against doing so as only brings unwanted attention towards yourself.
I don't care if 20,000 people before me did the same thing. I'll do what I can do get out of it. It's their call whether they "believe" I'll be a good juror or not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by majormadmax View Post
But good luck if you still decide to go that route, let us know how it turns out!
If I get called in anytime in the near future, I'll let you know how it turns out.
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Old 01-31-2011, 02:58 PM
 
1,276 posts, read 3,810,079 times
Reputation: 700
I got called for jury duty last year. Ended up going through the selection process. It was a domestic violence case. When asked if anyone had experience working w/ domestic violence cases or anything similar, I raised my hand and told them that at the time I worked for the sexual assault prevention program on base and my job was to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be there for the victim and provide complete 100% victim support regardless of what I thought. Interesting....it wasn't the prosecutor who picked me. It was the defense. So that tells me it doesn't really matter what you say. I sat there thinking there's no way they are going to want someone on a case who works full-time as a victim advocate/supporter. But I got selected and it lasted about 3 days. I would gladly do it again.
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Old 12-03-2012, 09:17 PM
 
Location: Stone Oak
321 posts, read 1,064,570 times
Reputation: 159
Ugh, just got another jury summons. The fourth one in seven years. This time I am "on call" for the entire month of January. I've never seen that one before. I've been looking through this thread looking for applicable responses to get excused, but haven't found one suitable to my scenario. Salaried people get paid while on jury duty, but I do software engineering work for several clients and bill them for hours I work. No work, no billing. A day I don't work is a sizable amount of money, but furthermore I usually have the next 3 to 6 months mapped out with deadlines and milestones I need to meet or my clients get grumpy. There is no one else who can replace me.
In the past I've taken a letter describing this situation and usually get postponed, but not excused. Well guess what, in 6 months I am still going to be in the same situation. I shudder to think what would happen if someday they tell me "you've postponed too much". I am the primary breadwinner in our family. They should at least have a get excused card for people in certain lines of work, mainly non-salaried people.

Anyway, surely I am not the only non-salaried employee who's tried to get excused. I'm going to try to make a case for a longer term excuse. Has anyone tried it by playing the no work, no pay card?
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Old 12-03-2012, 09:39 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
8,399 posts, read 22,881,135 times
Reputation: 4435
Won't get you excused. Instead, take a mobile device you can work off of, there's free WiFi at the Bexar Co Courthouse!
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