I have jury duty tomorrow. Someone from the court system just visited my website

[ecstatic]

Is that a coincidence? Unless the case involves a McCain supporter I doubt that that alone will get me excused.

Is there a way for me to get out of jury duty? My sister is graduating Friday, out of state, and I plan on attending!

[nc4bo]

1. You can try the "unkempt" look, worked for me. nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. also, they may continue your appearance with good cause shown.

neither attorney wants an unhappy juror there. Trust me.

[nc4bo]

11. True that. nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. depends on the state.

If I know my jury pool, I always google them.

[ZombieHorde]

3. Tell them that your sister is graduating on Friday.

[nc4bo]

5. OTOH, it IS your duty to serve ;)

sorry, devil's advocate here.

They didn't like my hair style, I wore my hair in twists and I really think I was just too "radical" for them.

[Sanity Claws]

6. Maybe not

When I did litigation, we didn't know who was in the jury pool until they were brought down to the courtroom.
If someone visited, it might be from court administration looking for contact information.
As for getting out of jury duty, you should tell them that you have plans to be out of state during the time they called you for jury duty. You should have a problem with getting your jury duty postponed.

[WeDidIt]

7. "He's guilty. Why else would he be in court if he wasn't guilty"

Should work every time.

[madinmaryland]

23. Nice post, Nancy Grace!!

:rofl:

[napi21]

8. I don't know if you can do it by tomorrow! You can always get excused

at least once by calling and explaining that you have a rl problem with the timing for some reason, but you should have requested to be excused earlier than the last minute. I don't know where you are, but if it's still early enough in the day, you could try calling the court,

[eleny]

9. Can you ask for your service to be put off due to your out of town commitment

[nykym]

10. Although my dad

loved doing jury service. He did not want to serve on one particular rape case he was selected for.
So when the judge asked if anyone had reservations about serving up went his hand, the judge called him up and said well what's your excuse? None he said , but I believe all rapists should be castrated! DISMISSED!

[meegbear]

12. Do your duty and SERVE!

[gkhouston]

13. Probably nothing sinister. Ask to re-schedule unless it's a traffic case that's

going to be a one-day-and-you're-done sort of thing.

[Vinca]

14. If you can drum up anything in your background that somehow

relates to the crime and make a convincing case that you can't be fair, you might get off. (Example: "I remember when my sister was mugged, I couldn't wait to see the guy go to jail.")

[islandmkl]

15. the last time i was called for jury duty, the prosecutor was asking questions of prospective jurors

on a matter of a young man breaking into a woman's house and stealing some things, etc....

i had no problem doing the duty, but then the prosecutor asked, "Does anyone feel it would be a miscarriage of justice if a guilty person went free of a crime they committed?"

I...and i was the only one...raised my hand and said, "It would be a miscarriage of justice if an innocent person was convicted of a crime they did not commit."

I was the first person excused....

[Goblinmonger]

16. I worked as an investigator for a law firm

for a few years. When we got the jury list, I would research each person to find out more about them. You want to know the best to choose. I would imagine that the potential governmental attorney (more likely their staff) want to know the same thing. No big tin-foil thing.

I would love to get on jury duty, but no such luck thus far. Though my wife being an attorney in town will probably get me kicked off most juries.

[elleng]

18. I AM an attorney,

and was actually selected to serve! GREAT experience!

[Goblinmonger]

21. Then there is hope!

I team teach a Constitutional-based class and would love to see the inside of the process.

[tech3149]

17. I've been called for jury duty twice

The only time I was on the prospective jury, I was tossed by the defense because I told of my altercations with the law as a juvenile. I explained that I was wrong and was willing to pay the price for my error.
If there is one things attorneys on either side don't want is rational and logical jurors. Be smart, be honest and they'll toss you on the first review.

edit to add: You can change your assigned date of service to account for prior commitments. They are very friendly about doing that.

[TechBear_Seattle]

24. Yes, you can usually postpone your service

That's what I did the last time I was called. I was coming to crunch time at work, and knew I would be pulling 60 to 80 hour weeks to meet my deadline. I called the jury supervisor for my county and asked if I could be rescheduled until after Presidents' Day. Not only was that no problem, I was reassigned the two day period that included Presidents' Day, when the courthouse was closed, meaning I was in the jury pool for only one day rather than the usual two. (That didn't help though, as I was selected for a narcotics posession trial. Ah, well.)

[ThomWV]

19. How do you know who visited your website?

[Regret My New Name]

26. She probably checks her access logs...

I check mine often, because I like to see who is stalking me.

[TechBear_Seattle]

20. I have to agree with others: Fulfil your civic duty

The lack of intelligent, well informed jurors is one of the biggest weaknesses in our justice system, as these are the very people best able to weasle out of their civic duties. Unless there is genuine financial hardship, please serve.

[NightWatcher]

22. Wouldnt you want YOU in the jury box if you were on trial?

or maybe if something happens and you are ever wrongly charged with something, all the smart, people you might need to keep you out of prison will find a way out of jury duty too, leaving you with morans and fundies to seal your fate

[MindPilot]

25. Been called to jury duty seven times...never served

the poster above is right -- they really do want to find the most compliant sit-down-shut-up-and-do-what-you're-told types. The first thing they do is go through and weed out all the scientific and technical people.

[Regret My New Name]

27. Which side? Or both sides?

[MindPilot]

31. Both sides, on two occasions I knew the people involved

Once it was the judge who upon finding out that some people in the room had issues with drug laws. He asked everyone who felt the same to raise their hands; about half the room did. "Ok, you're all excused."

After that I got real cynical.

[Greyskye]

29. So true.

I was up for a civil case involving an accident with a 4 legged rolling office chair. I don't remember how it came about, but when I said that simple physics showed that a 5 legged rolling office chair was inherently more stable than a 4 legged rolling office chair, I was dismissed instantly.

The people that they chose for that jury all seemed to be either low-education younger people, or senior citizens. What a world. :eyes:

[MindPilot]

32. I was on a construction defect case -- slab cracked at a shopping center

The first group who went was any one who had ever been to that location. Next they took out anyone who had ever worked or knew anything about construction, right down to do-it-yourselfers. I was gone with the second group; I confessed to having worked on my own house.

On a drunk driving case a guy was dismissed because he was a chemical engineer and knew how breathalysers work. Presumably he would also know that they can be very inaccurate.

I got tossed right after him because I didn't agree with the statement that "a checkpoint is worth the inconvenience if it gets one drunk driver off the road."

[MindPilot]

28. Take the opportunity...when the judge asks if you can be fair,

launch into a rant something like: "Fair? Your honor, you sit up there under the picture of a war criminal, representing a system that is corrupt with cronyism from the top down and you have the nerve to ask ME if I can be fair?! I'm just a working stiff living from paycheck to paycheck; I know nothing but fair. What can YOU do to show ME and the rest of the people in this room that you can be fair, that you will make decisions based on the law and not party loyalty?"

Yeah, the bailiff will be hauling your ass out, but just before they grab you, throw a shoe.

You'll never have to do jury duty again, I promise.

[mnhtnbb]

30. Not a good idea. You may also get to serve a sentence for contempt of court

before being put on a list of being called regularly to serve.

[MindPilot]

33. Yer honor, anyone showing contempt for this court

is only exercising good taste!

[Cleita]

34. In my district you are allowed one postponement for personal reasons.

You should inquire if that is the case in yours. I got called to jury duty on the 29th of this month too? Huh, I wonder why they are so busy all of a sudden. It struck me weird that they were even having courts between Xmas and New Years. I thought that was when judges took mini-vacations.