Jury Duty?

[MadHatter]

That's it?

Cool no problem, I thought it would be a all day type of thing.

Thanks!

No, that is not it.

You may be released early in the day. But, you may be there all day. Or, you may be there all week. No way to really tell.

And, having to work will not get you out of it.

Your employer has to give you the time off. But, if you are hourly, they won't pay you for it. The state will pay you a very small amount....but it us like $10 a day.

Also... I am amazed that someone does not know how jury duty works. Unless you are like 18 yo.

[Floppin]

I would do it if I had the free time, but I have to work to pay my bills. What happens if you don't show up? A fine would be my guess.

They send the Sheriff dept to your house and serve you with a warrant for contempt of court. You then have a court date where you can attempt to show good reason that you missed without having informed the courts prior with said "proper reason". If you can't do so, they fine the poo out of you and can throw you in jail for 30 days.

In the summons you have, it lists acceptable excuses. If you have one, fill it out and send it back. Otherwise you better show your ass up at the court room on time.

YOLO

[MadHatter]

They send the sheriff dept to your house and serve you with a warrant for contempt of court. You then have a court date where you can attempt to show good reason that you missed without informing the courts prior with proper reason. If you can't do so they fine the poo out of you send can throw you in jail for 30 days.

In the summons you have, it lists acceptable excuses. If you have one, fill it out and send it back. Otherwise you better show your ass up at the court room in time.

YOLO

Spot on.

And, I have to work to pay my bills is NOT one of the acceptable reasons.

I actually know someone who forgot they had been summoned and did not show up. The sheriff was there with the warrant within the week. It was a huge fiasco fir them and they were very close to spending time in jail.

They take that poo seriously.

[ladypanther]

So what if I have to work? Is that a good excuse? 

 

 

Judges have no tolerance for people trying to get out of jury duty.  I heard him tell a doctor he would give him 1 month to arrange to have his patients taken care of while he was serving but he had to come back in a month for the duty.

 

sometimes it dos not last all week.  A co-worker just served recently and he was only out 2 days.

[Happy Panther]

It's difficult to get out of it without showing up. There are plenty of reasons you can write on the summons that will work but most don't apply to the general public. I'm self employed so I would have a chance up front.

 

Once you are there it is easier to get dismissed. I think the easiest to to come across as a hard-ass on whatever the issue is and pretend like you will never change your opinion. One side isn't going to like that or sure.

 

So in the Zimmerman case say a gunshot is murder no matter what and you don't care if TM was aggressive. You will be voting guilty and you don't need to even hear testimony.

[Davidson Deac II]

That's it?

 

Cool no problem, I thought it would be a all day type of thing.

 

Thanks!

 

Actually that depends on your county courts.  It could be an all day thing if they are slow.  And of course, if you actually get picked for Jury duty, it might be a while longer.

 

I had to go once, and ended up getting selected for the jury.  I thought it was kind of interesting, although I am glad it was civil not criminal.  But it did start to get boring after 3 days.  Fortunately, it only lasted 4 days.  My employer did pay me, and I got a check from the state for 70 bucks or so. 

[MadHatter]

Actually that depends on your county courts. It could be an all day thing if they are slow. And of course, if you actually get picked for Jury duty, it might be a while longer.

I had to go once, and ended up getting selected for the jury. I thought it was kind of interesting, although I am glad it was civil not criminal. But it did start to get boring after 3-4 days. Fortunately, it only lasted 4 days. My employer did pay me, and I got a check from the state for 70 bucks or so.

I got picked for a drug trafficking case once and it went for a week.

We all pretty much thought she was guilty, but had to acquit because there was still reasonable doubt.

It was interesting to see the courts work. It was a far cry from Law & Order....the lawyers were not that good in our case.

[Floppin]

It's difficult to get out of it without showing up. There are plenty of reasons you can write on the summons that will work but most don't apply to the general public. I'm self employed so I would have a chance up front.

 

Once you are there it is easier to get dismissed. I think the easiest to to come across as a hard-ass on whatever the issue is and pretend like you will never change your opinion. One side isn't going to like that or sure.

 

So in the Zimmerman case say a gunshot is murder no matter what and you don't care if TM was aggressive. You will be voting guilty and you don't need to even hear testimony.

 

When I got my last summons I was on felony probation. There's a little check mark on the form for that and I was able to mail it in. Though, not everyone falls into that category...and I wouldn't recommend it as a way to avoid jury duty......obviously

[Davidson Deac II]

I got picked for a drug trafficking case once and it went for a week.

We all pretty much thought she was guilty, but had to acquit because there was still reasonable doubt.

It was interesting to see the courts work. It was a far cry from Law & Order....the lawyers were not that good in our case.

 

In my case, a Lady was suing Hanes Mall in Winston because she slipped and fell coming off an escalator.  I found out that getting money thru lawsuits is actually quite a bit harder than some people think.  She had no case at all, and got nothing.  It took three years for the case to get to trial, and it took us 10 minutes to decide against her.  That case made it easy for me to understand why the courts are so clogged up.

[YOLO!]

WTF!

 

The letter says I have a two-week term starting next Monday. But get this the court is in Raliegh, I stay in freaking Fayetteville!

 

I'm sorry but i'm not driving from Fayetteville to Raliegh for 2 weeks.

 

I'm going to call the juror number to see if I can get out of this.

[pstall]

true Deac. which is why im a big fan of people going thru jury duty. you get to truly see how the process works. good or bad.

 

i was a foreman for the last trial i was on in Sept. it was a car wreck and one person was suing the other. but to have so many people from so many backgrounds all express thier views and then get on the same page was pretty cool.

 

and yes i kept my team laughing the entire week.

[MadHatter]

WTF!

The letter says I have a two-week term starting next Monday. But get this the court is in Raliegh, I stay in freaking Fayetteville!

I'm sorry but i'm not driving from Fayetteville to Raliegh for 2 weeks.

I'm going to call the juror number to see if I can get out of this.

Looks like you received a summons from either District or State court. That is tough.

Give them a call. They will fill you in on what the process us.

[coxc63]

I recently had jury duty, there's like 20 or so people in the court doomed summoned for jury duty but they select like 8-10 of them. If you have a spouse in the military or a family member in the law force you can usually get off by just telling them that. They just called me up to the stand asked my name and job, then the defense attorney decided whether or not to dismiss me and that was the case I got dismissed, was there for about an hour then went home and got a $25 check in the mail.

[NCstoner420]

Go get a felony, it's sort of like a get out of jury duty for free card that lasts your entire life.