Sooooo.... I just got a notice that I have jury duty in about a month. This pisses me off for several reasons: 1. They spelled my name wrong. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is because when I first registered to vote they also spelled my name wrong, and when I went to vote they wouldn't let me. Yeah... so I'm not eligible to vote, but I have jury duty!? F*ck these guys. 2. I've only been old enough for jury duty for a little over a year, and of that time, I've only been in this particular county for about a month. Couldn't they maybe pick someone a bit more... seasoned? 3. I don't even have a driver's license, since I can walk everywhere when I'm at school... under my parents' insurance policy, even being able to drive (even without a car), I would have to pony up $2000 a year, which I'm not inclined to do. So they expect me to ride a bus for several hours to get to the courthouse each time. Fun! I half thought about just ignoring it, and when they asked me about, say I got a summons for someone else, not me (mispelled name). But they're not that stupid, and that carries a $1000 fine. Anyway, to the point of this thread: what characteristics would tend to make courts disqualify someone for jury duty? I thought about claiming to be intensely religious, I heard that can work (though I'm actually agnostic and would need a suggestion on which religion I should claim to be affiliated with).
Damn, thats weird, last year at my HS we got voter registration cards in our homerooms to encourage kids to sign up and vote since a lot of seniors are 18, well it said the sheet it gave us, was that jury duty isnt based upon registering to vote but when you get your drivers license you are then elgible for jury duty. I had always believed that it was from registering to vote and from what your saying it looks to be that way. A lot of my teachers would tell us it doesnt really matter its not like you will be called upon for jury duty for awhile, when its only been a year and a half since you registered to vote! Thats pretty quick if you ask me. I just sorta was shocked by that post, thats why i posted
Ah, well that thing you had may have been right for all I know, because while I don't have a driver's license, I do have a state ID (since I didn't have to have car insurance to have that). I expect that a state ID carries all the responsibilities a driver's license does, only without the privilege of driving and the burden of car insurance. They spelled my name wrong at first on the state ID as well, but I had a new one sent to me that was correct. Apparently, though, they're still using the original info for jury duty purposes. Hey, my name is often mispelled, I figured it was no big deal at the time. Needless to say, I would be significantly less pissed off had they not been such asses when I went to vote.
Well okay, great, but that's for Harris County... I'm in Sacramento County, California. Is there a Sacramento equivalent to this site (a.k.a. is this a national law or a state/county law you're showing me here)?
Apparently in Texas, the county can get their jury pool from either registered voter lists or drivers license lists (or both). I've yet to be called despite having a drivers license and being registered to vote.
Until fairly recently, it was just voter registration rolls that they used here in Texas, but some counties had trouble filling their jury pools with fewer and fewer people registering to vote. Not to mention that some ethnic groups tend to be registered to vote in lower numbers than many others, which can be a concern when attempting to pick a jury of one's peers (plus, you really don't want to have a disincentive to vote. Having jury duty tied to voter registration does potentially turn people off from registering to vote). So, they changed it to allow for counties to use drivers license records. But that's only been within the last ten years or so, I believe. I would assume, like you said, that it's probably similar in most states.
I simply stated I would have trouble deciding a case if it was between the word of two people, even if one of them was a police officer. The prosecution dropped me like a rock. I mean, if our current President and half the executive branch can tell bald faced lies and fool most Americans, how can I be better than the average American? I still had to show up and say this in court when in the jury pool selection phase. If you don't have an urgent excuse, you should do your duty and at least show up.
Well, apparently there's nothing in Sacramento law exempting students, at least that's on that website. So I just submitted my excuse as "not having reasonably available transportation," which is actually sorta true, since both my parents work and the nearest station where I could get transportation to the courthouse is about 3 or 4 miles away.
My advice: Show up at jury duty, walk up to the judge and shout at the top of your lungs, "Go **** yourself." Then walk out calmly. They won't bother calling you back.
If your eligible for jury duty and your called, go do it. No , ifs and or buts, well you can call to reschedule if it's imprtant. It sucks sometimes but that's just one of the things you do. I shouldn't even have to go into the "people have given their lives so you can" rap. Student- call em, no biggie Missed your vote - call em, fix it for next time. I want you feel empowered by your vote, but the in last big one the popular vote didn't decide the race anyway.
Well, the judge might have the bailiff bring you back and ding you for contempt of court. That would suck. Generally speaking, it's a really bad idea to piss off judges - maybe even worse than saying the wrong thing to a police officer.
I worked for a guy once who got a jury duty letter. He ripped it up to shreds and threw it away. I said, "hey, that was a jury duty letter" He said, "Letter? What letter? I didn't get any letter. It must have been lost in the mail. If they really want me there, they should probably send such important letters through certified mail." -- droxford
In Illinois, they pull names from 9 different sources. I would advise that you just go since jury duty is actually pretty cool, but your lack of transportation is really a pain. I had to go to jury duty once (to explain to them that I was exempt as a student) and I was on the bus for 3.5 hours that day for it. Since you have to go the first day, measure the time it took you, round up, and explain that it is too much.
They need to start cracking down if they want people to take jury summons' seriously. People throw them away faster than political advertisements.
