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Chaz
Trad climber
Boss Angeles
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Has anyone ever been arrested for dodging jury duty?
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Richie,
I wish my experience confirmed your good feelings about the jury system. My personal experience is that jurors cannot overcome their biases, which their verdicts reflect. These particularly involve baises for or against law enforcement, but carry over to things like disliking one lawyer, and disregarding the facts of his or her case. Most of the rules of evidence can be traced to a deep distrust of jurors.
Admittedly my experience as an attorney is on the civil side. There are only two reasons to demand a jury trial in a civil case in California: (1) to delay the outcome and increase the plaintiff's expenses (advantage defendant), or (2) to threaten to obtain an irrational result (advantage plaintiff).
The best reflection of experienced lawyers' belief in the jury system, though, was in a West Publishing ad about a decade ago. (West publishes the official reporters for the Federal courts of appeals and district courts, as well as many other reporters and legal publications). The ad read "Logic has its limits" and showed an empty jury box.
Now, if you still want to shirk your civic duty, you should ask for a postponement of your service to a time when you're unlikely to be on the walls. My summons always came when I was set to go to trial in another case, so I was granted a postponement as a matter of course. I found if I chose the week between Christmas and New Year's, I was unlikely to be called because no sane lawyer or judge wants to start a jury trial that week.
John
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
Nowhere
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Hoping to send a message about the importance of jury service, the chief judge at D.C. Superior Court recently issued warrants calling for the arrests of 92 District residents who failed to show up. Twelve people have been arrested or turned themselves in this month for contempt of court, and marshals are canvassing the area for more. Those taken into custody had to pay $25 bonds and were given dates to report back to court for a final chance to explain themselves and get back on the calendar for jury service. The penalty for contempt of court could be as high as seven days in jail and a $300 fine.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/13/AR2008071301798.html
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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I don't know how anyone who tries to skip out on Jury duty could ever complain about some part of the justice system not working the way it should.
The fact that average citizens can ultimately decide the fate an accused party who pleads not guilty is one of the foundations of this country. Without it, we would be a very different, and I think worse off, place.
As others have pointed out, if all the folks "smart" enough to figure out how to get out of it do so, then who does that leave to decide the fate of the accused?
That having been said, it's definitely a PITA. The one time I've been called, I was never seated and got to go home mid-day. I think Tucson must just have a large old population to pick from or something, but I'd love to sit on a jury.
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TradIsGood
Chalkless climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Amazingly bad advice in here.
 Notice came in the mail. Presumption is that mail is delivered. Only if the mail is returned will the presumption not apply.
Say this, that, or some other thing to get out. First of all, you may not even have to go, or you may only have to go the first day. Secondly, if you do go, the odds seem to be that you still won't say anything. That does not happen until the voir dire.
As mentioned, education does not keep you off. I also have post graduate education, and got empanelled. (After sitting through 2 or 3 days of a loser case, I was "selected" as one of the alternates no longer needed.)
Saying something stupid in voir dire could cause you trouble. Even if not, if you were the judge and one of the lawyers wasted one of his limited challenges on you, wouldn't you send the guy back to sit in the waiting room for the rest of the sessions?
What gets you out "automatically" varies by state, but lawyers can get called, at least in some states. There are a good number of "lawyers" that never made it.
Mothers may be dismissed.
Do check that it is your county though. I have seen notices from wrong county because computer system went by zip code and a zip code spanned two counties.
If you are under age of majority, you don't have to serve.
BTW. It is really expensive to be a plaintiff or defendant. After spending all of that money, if it were you, would you want a jury that was no better than a coin toss?
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tooth
Mountain climber
Guam
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You can get out of it by joining the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia. None of them ever have to go in.
Makes me wonder though, if all the highly educated people, doctors, lawyers, etc. get out of jury, doesn't that kind of skew the juries compared to the general population? How has that affected society?
My assistant has been going in for Jury duty here on Guam every Tuesday all day for the past 6 months. Makes it almost impossible to treat patients in a reasonable amount of time, can only see a couple a day by myself, and the island is too small to find replacements for her. Plus she comes back each Wed with stories of child abuse and stuff that really ruins my day. Luckily it will be all over with next month.
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bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
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remember oj's orginal murder trial? during jury selection, a woman showed up in full star trek uniform and claimed the ethics of the federation were a sound foundation for a jury member...she was dismissed
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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J, I've only been called on criminal cases, including a felony murder case which, at the time, involved the possibility of the death penalty. And yes, I have seen some biased jurors, and some who, frankly, were too stupid to understand their role in the process. In spite of this, I think the defendants we judged got an extremely fair hearing. In the murder case we had to be sequestered for a night before we finished our extremely thorough and quite contentious deliberations.
As a college professor, I have always been called at times I cannot serve, and so have always had my service postponed until the summer. It may be that these summer juries have a disproportionate number of teachers, professors, and students, all of whom have postponed for the same reasons I did, and so my (obviously insignificant) sample might be biased towards people who tend to be more thoughtful, who understand the meaning and repercussions of their own participation in a system that absolutely collapses without appropriate citizen support, and who are capable of reasoning within the framework of the law as it is explained to them. These are very tall orders, which is precisely why we don't want everyone with half a brain getting themselves excused.
We live in a world where people are whisked away in the night, held without every being told what they are charged with, refused the opportunity to confront or their accusers or even know the nature of the accusations, refused any kind of representation, convicted and sentenced without any hope of appeal. At a time when Bush administration has brought that world home to our own country, it is especially ironic to find a discussion of how we can disassociate ourselves from the institutions, however imperfect they may be, that are in place to prevent the the immeasurably greater injustices that now lurk in the shadows of our own back yards.
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spyork
Social climber
A prison of my own creation
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Very eloquent, rgold. I can't speak or write with your clarity.
My wife was on a jury for a very nasty child molester. It troubled her very much, but they locked the guy up for so long he will never see the light of day. It was good to see her do her civic duty and put the guy away. The times I have made it into the courtroom, I always get kicked. As said by someone above, it would certainly be interesting to see a trial through.
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apogee
climber
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"...it is especially ironic so find a discussion of how we can disassociate ourselves from the institutions, however imperfect they may be..."
Word. The irony is especially striking, given the source of the some of the comments in this thread- posters who proudly strut their constitutional rights when the discussion turns towards something they believe in. For all of the comments posted here, the majority contain advice on how to get out of jury duty- like someone posted, how about just suck it up and go, and contribute to the society and country that you hold up so righteously.
These comments remind me a little of the discussion on drunk driving- for all of the comments about how to get out of a DUI, there was an interesting minority of comments to the effect of figure out ways to avoid driving in the first place (i.e. the AAA shuttle).
Walk the talk.
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atchafalaya
climber
Babylon
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"There are only two reasons to demand a jury trial in a civil case in California: (1) to delay the outcome and increase the plaintiff's expenses (advantage defendant), or (2) to threaten to obtain an irrational result (advantage plaintiff)."
Those are two possible reasons. There is also:
1. jury trial dates compel parties to settle because juries are unpredictable
2. the parties can't agree on the value of the case
3. exposing dishonest parties and witnesses before their peers
4. juries can limit state govt actions
5. community standards are used to decide local issues
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Mimi
climber
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Jun 10, 2009 - 10:11pm PT
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Got kicked today from county superior court. I know it was something I said. Burglery, property damage and assault. Big relief due to work but I still feel crappy. If I would've sat there in silence and played dumb, I'd be there until next Thursday.
A passionate public defender didn't think I could be impartial when she asked if anyone else agreed with two others that believed it's hard to get charged with such crimes without there being presumptions of guilt. I know I would have been impartial. Just the facts, mam. What do the evidence and testimony show? Weird experience. The county did a very good job in briefing everyone about the process. Glad it's over.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jun 10, 2009 - 10:27pm PT
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I was just talking about this with the guy next door to me at the business park. When he gets a summons he chucks it. "How they gonna prove the Postal Service delivered it?" He swears it has worked for years. He claims he has gotten the ones that say "If you don't respond to this blah blah then a bench warrant will be issued." He's been stopped for traffic violations since with no repercussions.
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Mimi
climber
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Jun 10, 2009 - 10:30pm PT
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He's gotta be right. Smart guy to call their bluff. I'll have to remember that, hahaha. If it doesn't come certified mail or via signed courier, end of story. This better not get out.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jun 11, 2009 - 12:12am PT
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Yes, I hesitated to post it. Let's keep it to ourselves. After all, we gotta get out.
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Cannon
Trad climber
Wildomar, CA
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Jun 11, 2009 - 03:55am PT
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you go, do your civic duty, get it done, go have a beer, and then go climbing
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