so, I've been summonsed for jury duty.....

No this isn't a rant about wasting my time. This is more of something I noticed while my brain was wandering today at beer work. Warning, long rambles ahead.

So I got the summons in the mail, and I was confused at first. I'd never seen a summons before, and I figured I was in trouble or something. Once I read it, I had a good laugh, as it capped off a day that included a part timer at work breaking his leg and ankle, and realizing my work load for the rest of the month depends on whether or not the wild make the playoffs.

I posted a thing on Facebook stating that I'd finally seen what a jury summons looked like, and I received a litany of advice on how to get out of it. I joked that they'd take one look at me and dismiss me (those that know my visage know the humor in that), but beyond that said nothing. After I notified beer work I needed to do my civic duty, I stared thinking.

And then, I got a bit irritated. See, I have no problem going to court. I've been on the floor plenty of times fighting tickets. I'm extremely good at it. I consider it a sport. But it seems to me, other people do. And this bothers me.

What I realized was, in the event of a jury trial, a jury of my supposed peers, these are all people that don't want to be there. I became sort of disgusted with the thought that all the advice I got was how to get out of doing it! That seems insane to me. I mean, yes- its an inconvenience. But everyone likes to piss and moan about how the judicial system is busted and there's no fair trials and they don't have a chance in front of judges and crap, but when it comes time to afford someone the opportunity to have a fair trial by being that impartial jury, all they want to do is bail? That seems off to me. So- im gonna report. I may or may not be selected. If I am, so be it. But I hope the day that I need this service, someone out there thinks the way I do.

I have done Jury Duty, and except for the fact that the case was a Child Molestation case.. enjoyed it. It's subject had me literally sick for weeks.

I will do civic cases, but no more will I do criminal.

Its that "put your money where your mouth is" thing.

Some investment account rules are supposedly going to change in Canada soon. One guy put it best, "I strongly disapprove of this even though it will benefit me".

I pointed out to him that there is nothing stopping him from paying more taxes, right the CRA a cheque and they'll gladly take it.

Same goes with jury duty.

SWMBO'ed received a summons yesterday. I ordered her an NRA polo shirt to wear. <- hasn't been called since last century, when he wore an NRA polo shirt, was dismissed from the potential pool.

Last time I had jury duty I made it to voir dire. The judge politely thanked us for our time and admitted that it's a hassle. If anyone has a better process, he said, let's hear it.

I've never even considered trying to ditch jury duty, and I've been summoned during some pretty hellish weeks. As long as nobody's literally going to die, you deal with it.

I've been summoned probably half a dozen times, dismissed out of hand, voire dired as well, but never got paneled. DD#1 got picked for a 3-day trial on her first summons. She had a buddy who got seated on a 2 or 3 week criminal trial on his first try, too.

I've been summoned twice but never chosen.

Never tried to get out of it, they just decided they didn't want me.

Summoned twice, served once.

The second summons was 3 months after I served. I was excused due to the short period of time between.

It is your duty in a democracy to serve if called. Or you could move somewhere that has dispensed with juries like North Korea.

^see that's how I feel. I just wish more people did so in the event I needed one, I was afforded the same fairness I wish to give.

I find the whole thing kind of fascinating. I've never been summoned and I've always found that somewhat disappointing.

We had a longish tread on just this subject a couple months ago. I haven't been called in a quarter century and wouldn't mind at all.

Does the court system look oddly on people calling and volunteering to serve?

Here, they call a pool of potential jurors every 6 weeks, I think. You have to show up every Monday morning. I was chosen as an alternate first time, and rejected the second time, and there were no jury trials the other weeks. First one was a home invasion/theft/getaway driver situation, second one was a sexual assault case involving an ex-husband. The first I wouldn't have minded, the second I could see an awful lot of conflicting and contradictory testimony. I'm really glad I didn't get chosen for that one.

I'm guilty (NPI) of having started the previous thread last month. http://classicmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/jury-duty-i-dodged-the-bullet/99375/page1/

At the time I was relieved at not having been selected for a civil trial that was predicted to last 3-4 weeks. Let me say unequivocally ... I believe in doing one's civic duty. However, I don't think being relieved at not having been selected makes a person any less patriotic. If I had been selected I would have served, but probably somewhat reluctantly. Ironically, I happened to see the judge at the liquor store a few days afterward (hey, it's RI, it's a small state) and while he of course couldn't state details, he confirmed that it was going to be long and very boring. He actually told me that I was lucky I wasn't selected.

I just received my check for two days of service even though I wasn't selected. Thirty dollars.

I have served on three jury's. I decided long ago I hope I'm never tried by a jury of my peers.

wae wrote: I find the whole thing kind of fascinating. I've never been summoned and I've always found that somewhat disappointing.

THIS. I WANT to do my civic duty, but I don't believe that they take volunteers.

I've been called a few times, but my odds of getting chosen are probably near 0. To date, I'm batting 1000.

My last call, was for the city I live in, for traffic court. Their traffic court runs from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. I thought that was brilliant. That one was canceled the day before.

The county I'm summonsed in is famous for drunks and drugs. Those courts amuse- even better if I hit felony Friday.

i turn 30 this year, i have never received a summons. i also find the process fascinating. i love courtroom novels (anything Micheal Connelly writes) and shows (the good wife, etc). i would love to do a really long, high profile case, or even a simple traffic case that was contested.

my dad got called and sat for a traffic case. the officer said the guy 'hurried' the tracks (rail road crossing) at over 60mph, then made a right onto the next street. problem was, the next street was 30 yards past the tracks. the vehicle was a step van. they don't do 90* turns at 60mph in under 30 yards. they just roll. the jury agreed in under 10 minutes that the driver was likely rushing the gates, but that the officer was pushing the truth a lot. in the end they decided that if they guy was a jerk, he'll be back in here, and if he really was innocent, he wouldn't be. they let him go. my dad told me every detail while this went on (2 days for a traffic ticket...lol). i ate it up!

i have wanted to be called ever since. never happened.

-J0N

I would love to get called. Our contract says I get full pay for jury duty!

I didn't mind getting called, it's just that jury pay is less than half of what I would get at work. Also, last time I was called and picked first round and told it was going to be a week long, and I was going on vacation in 4 days..., but I was promptly dismissed as I was too close to the (civil) case.

I seem to get summoned a lot, I'm 22 and have been summoned at least 4 times off the top of my head, 3 county (I wasn't in the county at the time, student, so got out of them), once federal. Federal never called me in.

If you are self employed, it could get very expensive to be called for jury duty. An unpaid 2 week vacation would really hurt for me.

I still have never been summoned for it.

Toebra wrote: If you are self employed, it could get very expensive to be called for jury duty. An unpaid 2 week vacation would really hurt for me.

self employed can usually get out of jury duty simply because they are self employed and the courts know that it hurts them financially. When I worked the same way, I was able to get "exempted" for over 10 years because of it

HiTempguy wrote: Its that "put your money where your mouth is" thing. Some investment account rules are supposedly going to change in Canada soon. One guy put it best, "I strongly disapprove of this even though it will benefit me". I pointed out to him that there is nothing stopping him from paying more taxes, right the CRA a cheque and they'll gladly take it. Same goes with jury duty.

That's a dismissive, BS argument though, closer to the opposite of "put your money where your mouth is." The effects of one person making a donation are a drop in the ocean compared to the effects of altering tax levels.

It's like a person saying "I think we all need to put more resources into taking care of our roads and I am willing to contribute" and you tell him "the roadworking tools are in the shed, knock yourself out buddy."

Edit: Or to put it another way, that would be like responding to mndsm's original post with "well if you think jury duty is so important, you should see if you can volunteer yourself more often!"