After all the BS that's been happening here lately, it might be nice to change up the subject and I actually have one that I need some real advice on.

Jury duty. Just in case it matters, I'm in California. Ok, I got my summons a couple of weeks ago and haven't done a single thing about it yet. Never had a summons before and I'm thinking about just ignoring and (hopefully) forgetting about the whole thing. My way of thinking is you can always fall back on "I never got it" because these letters are not tracked and no one has to sign for them when received. The summons says "Registration Required within 5 Days" and it's already been two weeks over that. What do you guys think?

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/jury/basics.htm

Failure to Appear
If you are qualified and you have not been excused or had your service postponed, you must report for jury service. You may only have to call on the phone or check a Web site to find out if you should report for jury service. Any person who fails to respond may be fined up to $1,500. Jail time in addition to the fine is also possible. Carefully follow the instructions on the summons and contact the court if you need help.

hehe I love it Pandy. I read that too. Still, I'd like to see if anyone has actually tried to skip on it.

   I've heard rumours both ways. I've heard some both that they toss their notice every time they get it, and they've never had a problem. I've heard others say that they kept receiving notices that got fiercer in tone. I haven't been called to jury duty in years, but my bf gets them regularly. So far, he's responded. Neither of us is brave enough to see whether there truly are consequences for failing to appear. With my luck, I'd get stopped for something I broke from a bike drop, and I'd have the book thrown at me.... get my bike impounded.... be put into cuffs and led away...    I be a chicken!

Come up with a rock-solid reason you didn't get the notice in time and call in with it...  "I was out of town for two weeks" works just fine...  The longer you wait to call in, the better your "reason" will have to be.  Just bite the bullet and call in.


I've actually missed court dates and got off with a "you'd better make it to the new date."  So...  Yeah...

Depends on the judge, but they can and will issue a warrant and send a sheriff's deputy to pick you up... if i were you i would not take it so lightly.  I never got it is no excuse, they've heard that one before, believe me.

It happened to my father-in-law, and he REALLY never got it... he had a warrant issued for his arrest.  When he went in, the judge chewed his ass.

I don't understand why everyone wants to get out of jury duty so bad.  I'd love to do jury duty.  It sounds like a lot of fun.  I've never been picked, though.  And some people get picked all the time.  I guess I'm doing something wrong.

And yes, I'm registered to vote.

A very good paying career is the reason for not wanting to go.

Quote from: roguegeek on February 17, 2006, 03:42:30 PM
A very good paying career is the reason for not wanting to go.

Yep.  That about sums it up.  I know a guy who had tried every trick in the book to get out of jury duty.  Claimed to be medicated for mental illness, claimed to be an alcoholic.  Both failed.  Hey, it's a suck lottery -sometimes your name gets drawn and you gotta do it.

My work will still pay me if I'm on jury duty.  I thought that was fairly standard, but I guess not.

I think our legal systems are very similar. If you get the call here you can often get it deffered which can fit in better with work etc but you won't get a second defferement. I think the best thing is to report in say you letter got lost or something, offer a grovelling appology and do you duty, someone has to. treat it as part of life's rich pattern and learning experience.

I learned which model mercedes has the best void spaces for smuggling dope and how to fiddle an electricity meter, lots of pointers about shoplifting techniques as well. I doubt I'll ever use that knowledge but who knows?

but the website says if it's an extreme financial burden you don't have to go right?

Quote from: aaronstj on February 17, 2006, 04:28:25 PM
My work will still pay me if I'm on jury duty.  I thought that was fairly standard, but I guess not.

Unfortunately not...  My company will pay me $50 a day and the court will pay the rest of my regular wages for each day I'm at jury duty.

Get this...  I just turned 25 last month, and I got my first notification last year.  Before that, I didn't even know what one of the postcards looked like.  Anyway, I got a notice last year, and gues what...  GRAND JURY DUTY!!!

GD!!!  If I were picked that day, I would have had to go to the courts 5-6 times a week because of the big work loads in Springfield, MA.  This would go on for THREE MONTHS!!!  After four hours of sitting in the court room, it was my turn to walk up to the judge and tell her if I could serve on the grand jury or not.  If I couldn't, I needed to give a REALLY good reason why I couldn't.  The woman before me took the longest talking to the judge, and you could tell that she was trying her best not to serve, but after 10 minutes, she hung her head low and walked to the next seat along the wall for the jury.   

I walked up and told her that I'm the only one in my company that does the jobs that I perform ( )...  I also told her I go to school full time too.( )

All I have to say is, I didn't have to go.

Jury summons can usually be handled online.  There's two things to consider wth them:

First, f you can not attent due to health or college issues, or due to a conflict of interest with the case at hand, you are not required to attend and are exempt.

Second, if the only reason you got to not attend is you think it's dumb...enjoy jury duty.

I got a letter on the mail to participate on a Jury.
I trashed it after reading it and laughed 

the US is funny sometimes.

Making a note in Outlook to check in with you in six months.... let us know if we need to bake you a cake with a file in it earlier than that... 

Quote from: pandy on February 18, 2006, 12:15:37 AM
Making a note in Outlook to check in with you in six months.... let us know if we need to bake you a cake with a file in it earlier than that... 

thanks, that won't be necessary. I think I will be busy riding on the streets (no time to eat a cake) 

ps. mark 5 months since I trashed the letter over a month ago. 

Interesting tidbit about a new(?) scam:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

I've been serving on a Federal grand jury since January 2005.  Our term expires in June 2006, 18 months total.  We meet on Wednesdays.  Sometimes they don't have anything to present so we don't have to go in, but most weeks we do. 

Fortunately I get paid my full salary by my employer, and the nature of my job is such that I'm able to work around the time out of the office pretty smoothly so it hasn't been too big a deal. 

jeff

I heard a good one: a potential juror, during voir dire, was asked if he knew any of the lawyers involved in the case.  The juror responded, "I know that lawyer right over there.  He represented my brother and he sucks as a lawyer!"  He got kicked out of the juror's pool pretty fast! 

That story is more of an urban legend at this point I think.  I can't remember where I heard it.