One of My Co-Workers Is Skipping Out on Jury Duty

Bright woman, a graduate of Georgetown. Community leader, actually. Because she's up to her neck in a specific project at work, and just came back from an eco-tourism vacation in Peru, she ignored a summons. Her defense: Without the use of registered mail, how can the city prove the notice was delivered?

When our best and brightest behave in such a fashion, is it any wonder that so many criminals get off Scott-free, while so many innocent people get rail-roaded? Or that the country's moral decline, in general, is so rapidly devolving?

</rant>

they will probably let her reschedule at a later date. Better that than a bench warrant.

The last time I got one, I rescheduled twice before serving it.

I have no problem with jury duty, but people from analytical fields are rarely chosen because lawyers dislike jurors who weigh data and hard evidence over guesswork, circumstance, and emotional pleas.

I rescheduled from March because my wife had just had our baby. I am positive I will not get picked. I have never been picked. I am a relatively educated Latino male with a background in psychology an social work. I think it would be interesting to sit on a jury. However, I don't think that I am the type of juror that is wanted.

been picked for jury duty, but I've been called many times. Last Oct, I finally got picked to serve...it was a lulu... thirteen weeks of endless mounds of evidence and testimony. I had a very hard time staying awake. the longest three months of my life next to Basic Training.

that decision.

here in Mass they keep pursuing people. The excuse "I never got it" doesn't fly here.

I spent a miserable month serving on Cape Cod.

Cape Cod had more excuses. There were only two excuses in Boston: in the hospital or dead.

I told the truth about my insane family and never got picked.

We were shown a film about how it was our "civic responsibility" to serve, etc., etc.

The case we were presented was one of a woman suing several doctors for malpractice. I don't remember the details exactly, but it was for a HUGE sum. They said the trial might take as long as six weeks to two months.

I am a self-employed independent contractor, and only earn money if I work. If I were to serve, I wouldn't make any money during that time. I asked not to serve saying that I thought there were too many frivolous lawsuits and this appeared to be one.

They excused me, and wouldn't even pay the daily $75 fee for my appearance. I lost a whole day's work.

Maybe I'm not a responsible citizen, but I don't think it's fair to expect me to give up my income for six to eight weeks to help some woman get $1 million.

Probably wouldn't be such a big thing for any of us if we weren't in so much debt.

For a day or three, sure. For a month or more, not so much. Where I live jury duty fees are less than minimum wage for the same amount of time. Personally I think this is something that could be fixed by diverting a tiny amount of existing taxes towards income insurance that pays out when called to jury duty, possibly using savings from streamlined selection processes.

Another idea would be professional jurists, but on the other hand a jury trial is already a right, and not a requirement. If I were mistakenly arrested and charged with something I would think long and hard before going for a jury trial. You might well be better off with an intelligent judge than with a poorly-selected jury.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wasps

The problem is, she's just making a problem worse. Once the summons is ignored, a bench warrant will be issued for her. If she's identified by the police for ANYTHING, from a speeding ticket to a simple submission of a witness report, she will be arrested on the spot for that outstanding warrant. She'd better hope that she doesn't get that ticket at 5:30pm on a Friday, or her weekend is going to suck.

At the first court session after her arrest, she'll be dragged before the judge to explain why she wasn't there. She will make her case to the judge that she didn't receive it, and if she's convincing enough, she'll even have any charges dropped. In all probability, however, she will also be ordered to report to the jury room IMMEDIATELY to serve her jury duty THAT DAY. Few judges will waive the duty for a future date.

So yes, she's technically correct, but it is NOT worth the hassle. She can serve her jury duty now, while she has time to plan ahead and reschedule things, or she can serve it wearing a pair of iron bracelets whenever the police finally catch up to her. The latter is enormously less pleasant.

Bench warrant is different than an alias warrant.

My wife dodged jury duty about a decade ago and was arrested after being pulled over. She was held overnight and forced to serve the following morning.

My understanding is that the only difference between a bench and alias warrant is bonding, and you can't bond out on an bench warrant without seeing a judge first. In my wifes case, bond wasn't an offered option. She got to sit in a cell with some tweakers until court the following morning.

from their known addresses or work.

An alias warrant is served only in the course of "aliasing", or ID'ing someone ad hoc.

What city do you folks live in? That's very harsh - and EXACTLY the reason in that city that they would NEVER want me to sit on a panel.

Yeah, they're known for being fairly harsh on shirkers. They're also known as being horribly cheap, paying only $12 a day for serving...and the first day doesn't count.

On edit: Thanks for the clarification, by the way. I've never had a warrant, so it's not my area of expertise. I always assumed it was a bench warrant.

and is forthright about being distracted by work, the lawyers won't pick her anyway.

I've been to 4 or 5 jury duty pools, selected as an alternate only once, and that one was plea bargained just before the trial. 35 years of eligibility and probably a total of 3 or 4 missed days of work total (usually just a missed morning of work).

As a consultant if I show up for jury duty I lose a day of income without compensation.

Maybe something is broken with our jury duty system? Doesn't that occur to anyone?

AND ANOTHER THING. The "bester" and "brightester" you are at work, the more responsibility is hanging on your shoulders on a minute-by-minute basis. If you're a surgeon, do you clear your schedule and let someone else work a double shift in your place? What if you're held over?

No, you can do jury and be irresponsible by doing it. You guys are pretty judgemental. The fact is if you skip EVERY jury summons, you're probably not a good citizen, but using your judgment about when, is being a responsible citizen.

To the loon that said "rat her out" you need to grow up, you judgmental twit.

Bester and brightester can apply pretty loosely in a town like this. In any major Northeast city, she'd have gotten ripped to shreds long ago. Down here, if you have the right skills, people can be pressured to prop you up.

A local judge here ordered that very thing for everyone who ignored their jury summons one week. Deputy Sheriffs were showing up at people's places of work and escorting them before the judge to state their reason for ignoring the jury summons.

True story.

"is it any wonder that so many criminals get off Scott-free"

We have the highest incarceration rate in the world (both in absolute numbers, and as a percentage of our populace. The bulk of these are non-violent offenders.)

How many more do you reckon we'll need to imprison before we have enough of "them" off the street?

I got called in May and delayed because of a trip planned to visit my daughter in CA. Then they called me back in July and wouldn't you know it I was out of town 5 hrs away babysitting for other daughter who had operation and no one else to watch her kids, they delayed again but mad now since I called last minute since I had no way of knowing this would happen as daughters babysitter got sick last minute.

So now I am suppose to call in on the 18th of sept.

the funny thing about it is i am curious to be on jury. i bet this time i don't even get called in and last time i was, darn it!