best way to get dismissed from jury duty?

[stripsqueez]

do the duty - i'm with buddha - if you must avoid it i would be careful not to get charged with contempt - a subtle plan would be to list your occupation as "teacher"

teachers are typically judgemental and it is a common belief amongst barristers that you should never let a teacher on a jury

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[Redhot_man]

if u prentend to be rascist wont they just keep you there for ever until someone picks you for their trial?

[jstnrgrs]

I don't know how it is done in your state. In my state, if you just show up, you only have about a 10% chance on hearing a trial. Even if you do have to hear a trial, most take less than a day. Even if you are not selected to hear a trial, you have done your duty, and do not have to serve again for three years. I'd recomend showing up, and taking your chances.

[AAmaz0n]

It's even easier than that here. They just made me call in every day for a week to see if they needed me the next day. After 5 days of "no, we don't need you, thanks" I was done.

Shauna

[RollaJ]

Your best bet to avoid jury duty is to pick up a shot gun and kill 3 police officers and a clerk on the way into the court room.

There is no chance you will be picked.

[OrangeHeat]

I just got out of jury duty a couple of weeks ago. It was some a-hole who beat his 15 month old niece to death.

When I got in the box I told the judge "if I was the defendant I wouldn't want me sitting in this box - I have two kids that age"

He dismissed me immediately. The nice thing is I didn't want have to lie - it was the truth. I couldn't be unbiased having a daughter practically the same age.

The a-hole ended up being convicted. Prison isn't good enuff for this guy. He should be beat to the point of death, nursed backed to health, wash rinse and repeat for the rest of his f'in life.

Kid beaters really piss me off.

Anyway just ell the judge you think the guy looks guilty or you don't feel you can be impartial because you had a a similar experience.

Orange

[CountDuckula]

The last time I was in a position to be empanelled on a jury, I had followed the directions in the Juror's Handbook they sent me and wore a suit and tie. I noticed in the juror's waiting room that most of the other prospective jurors had disregarded the instructions, and were dressed fairly casually. When the time came for me to be questioned by the lawyers, I and the other few people who took it seriously enough to dress as instructed were peremptorily challenged and excused.

I have two theories about why that may have happened. One, the lawyer for the plaintiff (who was suing a small business) didn't want anyone who looked like a businessperson. Two, the lawyer didn't want anyone intelligent enough to read and follow the instructions. Sigh....

FWIW, I side with those who say that you should accept this civic responsibility. It's a fundamental part of the way our justice system works, and those who duck it are undermining that system. If you've read about the idiotic verdicts that come out of some cases, think about why that might be. Do you really want justice to be in the hands of people who don't want to be there, but weren't smart enough to come up with a way to get out of serving on a jury?

-Mike

[astroglide]

i moved once and didn't change my address quick enough. much too late, i found out i had a jury duty notice when the new owner gave me my old mail.

i got another letter about a year ago (maybe 3 years after the first one), got absent-minded and didn't respond in time, still no ill effects.

it would seem that it's possible to simply ignore them. glancing at google i see that some states MIGHT have a $500 fine, but that it's rarely enforced. apparently like 20% of people actually respond and show up.

it's worth $500 to me to not have to go through that crap (waking up earlier, hitting rush hour traffic, dressing up, blah blah)

[ChipWrecked]

I was sequestered for two weeks during a murder trial in Georgia a few years back (I keep tabs on the scumbag and see that his death sentence appeal was heard three weeks ago). The judge gave us all 'get out of duty free' cards; of course I moved away within months.

Shortly after arrival in Cali, I was summoned (guy caught with 2 kilos cocaine and 9mm pistol, d'oh!). During jury selection I told them I had served in a capital murder trial in Georgia. They asked me not to divulge what it was, but did you reach a verdict? Looking straight at the defendant I replied "Yes, we did".

The defense thanked and dismissed me immediately [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[whiskeytown]

J.R. mentioned it earlier, but I'll go into more depth here...

basically, what you're saying is that as a Juror, you not only decide guilt or innocense, but you also excercise a power over the verdict in an a situation where you may feel the law is unjust...

For example...let's say you think it's BS that a kid smoking weed goes to jail for 5 yrs....you use your power of jury veto (nullification) to grant a not guilty verdict.... - in essence, you are the last defense versus a legal system gone amuck -

Judges won't tell you of this right, but you do have it...and if you believe in it, they'll want you off the Jury like that...(and let's face it...is a jury a rubber stamp, or is it really a group of your peers who are allowed to make an intelligent decision on the justice of the situation)

in fact, one guy believed in this and didn't disclose it - and they later hit him with CONTEMPT of court after the trial... - go figure..

here's some websites with more info...

http://www.greenmac.com/eagle/ISSUES...ification.html
http://www.fija.org/

in all honesty...I wish this didn't work...I wish we could have fully informed juries in this country - but lawyers want the dumbest and most easily swayed people they can find, so we're stuck with a jury of our peers who are the equivlent of the lowest common demoninator. -

RB