r/juryduty

I literally can't go so what happens now ?

I got a notice last week about being summoned for Jury duty, and it was at a location very far from my house. I tried my best to arrive on time, but I got lost and making where I was suppose to be, I arrived 1hr and 30minutes late.

They let me enter, but nobody checked me in. I am in the waiting room right now, and I think I arrived during the recess. I feel really bad.

Like would I be put on a list or something if I did? Any negative consequences for that? Ik it's guaranteed they'll never bother me again but what would happen

Got my summons not long after planning a trip with my wife and infant. I usually drive when we go through the mountains because my wife hates it. I’ve been calling and leaving messages since the county clerk doesn’ accept anything jury related in person besides the exemption affidavit. Left a few messages with clerks, left a few on voicemail. Now, I’m not likely to get selected after spending 10 years as a federal agent working cases, but do I bring up the trip and my attempts to reschedule my duty during voir dire?

If a person ignores jury duty notifications, whether it is the original questionnaire to determine eligibility, or whether it is the notification giving a specific date to appear for jury selection, or whether it is a notification of failure to appear and demanding an appearance to justify such failure or to remedy such, or simply ignoring all of the above notifications, what are the consequences?

The question here isn't what the theoretical, legally possible, consequences that a strict reading of the law allows, or even what the judge theoretically can impose as a penalty; but rather in the real world what do courts do about such failures - or, more likely, what they do not do.

The reality of the matter is that, generally, all of the above notifications are sent via U.S. Mail, and no one probably needs to spell out the reputation for proper delivery by the U.S. Postal Service. Furthermore, the jury notifications are mailed first class or bulk mail, without any proof of delivery. And even if it was delivered to the address, it may have not reached the named recipient. They could easily have "got lost in the mail", either in actual reality or in an alternative reality, without proof otherwise.

So at the end of the day, if push came to shove, and a court did demand answers for someone's failure to respond or failure to appear, their claiming to have never received it would, seemingly, be a get out of jail free card.

But, as far as I can tell, the facts on the ground in the real world is that courts, probably for all the reasons outlined above, do not even attempt to enforce any penalties against those that simply never respond. (Other than every couple of years, somewhere in the vast United States, you'll read a story where a court wanted to make an example, so they target someone who egregiously and blatantly made clear he didn't care to respond and disposed of such a summons.)

Likely this is also a direct result of courts having greater priorities than this kind of enforcement. And, perhaps, I'm not sure how much they even want persons who don't want to serve, to actually be forced to serve on a jury against their will. Such folks are prone to vote in the jury room with whatever vote will end the case the quickest, rather than vote with what serves justice based on the evidence. Also, especially in large jurisdictions and cities, there's simply too many people who never respond or show up for the courts to have the resources to target even close to one percent of that group with any realistic consequences.

If you got summoned to court for a jury duty. Would you accept it? Why and why not? What would make you not want to go ? (Ofcourse health-wise, biased ) a very good reason as to why or why not!
I accepted mine, and my coworker at the time said “I don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s life” which made me think hard.

Ok weird post but hear me out. Someone i know is posting as if theyre on jury duty for a current high profile case. I am 98% sure they're lying. But if they arent, they are spreading tons of clickbait news about the defense. Is there a way to verify whether theyre on a jury? They are definitely breaking oath if so...

When asking for an excusal, do they typically want documentation as to why you can't attend?

As a stay at home mom, can I be excused from jury duty? I don't have a sitter and my husband is unable to take time off of work. I also have a child with type 1 diabetes that I manage for her. Does anyone know the rules about this? In Michigan if that matters

Probably still question, but if you skip jury duty can you still fly on a plane? Or do you get an automatic warrant?

So i'm currently in school and got a form in the mail saying i got summoned for jury duty. I filled it out saying i'm a student,got it notarized and mailed it back.I still have to do the questionnaire part but what is the likelihood I get excused. I didn't send any class schedule or enrollment form (didn't think about that until afterwards).

How would i know if I got excused?

​​ I noticed on here there's way too many assumptions on here. When people share their experiences of jury duty I noticed that people love to backseat as if they were there and criticize anything that they can on the person that actually had the difficult experiences of doing jury duty .

​​ we all probably had rough experiences with jury duty . I think it could get complicated really quickly as a lot of things are not clear cut . But I noticed that people don't take the time to read the whole post or even ask for questions they just assume certain things .

​​ for example I could say that I was in a jury deliberation and you know some people weren't so convinced on a guilty verdict but then they changed their mind and it could be because of this and this and then somebody on here would jump in and say well that's not Beyond a reasonable doubt if they had some doubt. And it's like do they actually know what they're talking about.

​​ I was very disappointed at the criticisms and assumptions on here especially when someone is giving their testimony on a very sensitive experience they may have had it on here . A lot of times it seems like people just to have a gotcha moment . Like they might say something like you're not entitled to this or that . And it's like the op probably doesn't feel entitled. He or she is sharing his opinion and his experience. But it just seems like on here and a lot of other spaces on here it's often negative at first . You hardly ever see any positive comments saying wow that must have been really difficult . And what's worse is I'm not going to argue with anyone on here but it's very very disappointing that people just want to argue . I want to make people look bad on here and that's just not good

hi everyone, so i am in a bit of a bind. i got summoned for jury duty next month on a school day and i have a 4 year old son. i am a single mom and the only person who can pick him up from school when he gets out at 3. i submitted an excusal and it was denied with the note “explain in court”. i do work full time, but i get off of work at 2:20 which is why i am able to go pick him up. i have nobody else who can pick him up for me. does anybody have any insight or tips on what i can do?

if it matters i am in miami dade county in florida.

edit to add:

thank you everyone for your replies! i was able to make arrangements for the day of, my concern is more if i get picked. i don’t have something that can be done on a long term scale. i also feel very silly not realizing explain in court literally means … physically go in day of and explain. anyways, your responses have all been more than helpful! i will be going in and explaining my situation and see what they say.

To clarify for the rules, the case has concluded and I am no longer a juror
The crime: Larceny of a person (felony)

The facts of the case: a woman walks into a gas station and uses an atm machine. After she uses her card on the atm she realizes she misplaced her purse/wallet and turns her back on the atm (and the money) and approaches the cashier counter which is about 4-5 feet away from the atm. When her back is turned a man walks into the store approach the atm and puts the money in his pocket. The woman turns around the same time the man puts the money in her pocket.

The debate: one of the required elements is that the property is either connected to victim or “right next to the victim”. Since the victim was definitely further than arms length and that she didn’t even notice when the defendant first made contact with the money I felt there was reasonable doubt. Every other jury vehemently disagreed. I didn’t even get close to convincing another juror. In the end I felt the victim and the property was close enough where I could justify a guilty verdict in good conscience. Just because the defendant was guilty of something all the other jurors seemed willing to just rubber stamp the conviction.

I’m very curious what is your definition of “right next to”

I had jury duty yesterday and stayed most of the day there. when we were called up to the fourth floor from the basement and we waited 45 minutes before they told us to go back down to the basement for lunch break. (this was an hour and a half) by 1:30 we have to go back to the fourth floor to wait another 30 minutes only to be told to come back THE NEXT DAY at 9:00 am.

then the next morning rolls around and we waiting for another 2 hours to finally be let in. we went through the normal questioning and then the judge told all of us that weren’t selected to go back downstairs to the basement to check in and go through another panel. Even though we had been assigned Jury Duty to day previous the judge wanted is to go through that whole process again. luckily the people at the front desk was as confused as we were and let us go.

but is that normal for a judge to do that or were they on a high horse?

So like the title says, I've been summoned by my local courthouse to appear for possible jury duty. Set to start calling the number on Wednesday the 12th for my instructions and I didn't make the first group. Instructions are to call back on Thursday the 13th for further instructions.

Only problem is they never updated the phone message. Okay, I'll check the courthouse website...

That's not updated either

So how does this work? They screwed up so now I'm off the hook?

So what do I do if I lost my summons paper? I know the dates I have to call in. On the paper version of the excusal form I have my jury member number. But I don’t have the other page. Can I get another copy some how?

And I initially was fine with going and doing it but that was before I was hospitalized for a week and lost pay because my employer doesn’t do sick pay, then I found out I have to have surgery and will be out another week with no pay. I’m a single mom so money is tight now and missing more time for court will make it even worse. Yes I know they give you a few bucks but not nearly enough to survive with 3 kids.

Can I go the first day and request deferment?

EDIT Nvm I remembered where it might be, I’m so sorry, I found it, thank you guys

I looked up what I needed and it says I need the original summons and I can’t remember where I put it and I’m so scared I’ll be like, arrested or something if I don’t show up because they won’t let me in or something