Jury Duty?!?!

My best advice with jury duty is simply to be honest with the court and tell them that it would cause undue burden on you as you have professional engagements and expectation that you simply cannot avoid.

Also submit your paperwork to get excused from the duty.

Can't wait to see you guys again! -Aron

Racism or sexism always gets people out of Jury Duty(so I've heard) and I'm unemployed, and would gladly take your spot(to assist in your convenience)

Have some fan come to your rescue with transport?

I think Aron is spot on, and hopefully that'll work. I mean, you're planning on being OUT OF TOWN for something that's nearly impossible to reschedule!!

I've also heard about people getting out of jury duty by making a comment to the judge about being really excited to help convict someone - but I don't know if that would really help! My sister (I know I've told you this before) got out of jury duty by telling the judge that she and her husband were trying to conceive, and had a lot of fertility appointments during the time the trial would take place - that, due to her cycle, couldn't be rescheduled. Not only was she 100% telling the truth, it got her out of jury duty, with the judge and the rest of the potential jurors wishing her the best of luck! Best of luck to you too, Jody - getting out of jury duty, not trying to conceive - until you're ready, that is!

I agree with Aron. Show up dressed in Steampunk and tell them, "Hey, I'm in a kickass Steampunk band and I can't let my fans down."

Don't worry Jody, it'll work out! :]

Just tell them that it is a most inconvenient time, you'd be happy to serve but you really REALLY can't do that date, due to you being an awesome music sensation and all :-)

Pre-face all your answers with ?"according to the prophet and his words". Youll be fine.

I feel ya. I just did a two week trial a couple months ago in US District Court and have a summons to my county court on my desk. I enjoyed getting to experience how a real trial works (not much like TV) but I don't really want to do it a second time. Did they really only just inform you with one week's notice?

There should be a number on the summons to call and attempt deferral of your service to a more convenient date. "Scheduled business trip" should be one of the options (at least if it is a US district court). I successfully avoided a 2 month murder trial that I was originally summoned for because it conflicted with a scheduled trip (and got my 2 week trial instead).

If that doesn't work out then you show up and if you get called to a selection they should ask if anyone has any "undue hardship". Tell them you are an essential member of a performance group that has two shows that will have to be *cancelled* with thousands of dollars (or whatever is a reasonable estimate) of revenue lost for your group.

And finally, a comment on the 'unemployed people should be picked' idea. I too considered this when I got my summons. Unemployed people should definitely be among those picked, but the idea is that a jury is supposed to be representative of the overall population, so really more than two such people on a jury would be inappropriate. I do support offering unemployed persons an option to preferentially be picked so they can increase their chances of serving if they wish.

Oh, and you should totally show up in your fanciest steampunk attire and consider this to be perfectly normal.

When I had jury duty, I told my doctor I had an ear infection and couldn't hear very good, so he wrote me a doctors note saying I didn't have to go because I would be unable to hear the judge. Work that into something about how you're a musician and just had a gig, or you have swimmers ear or something like that.

My Bro-in-law is a wholesale florist. He was called for the week before Mother's Day - BIGGEST sale week of the year for him. He explained in advance and was rescheduled for 2 weeks later. Most Courts are open to rescheduling, as long as you're up-front about it. Get them the info ASAP.

i could always get out of it because i am a nurse but this time i went and when asked i said i really could not tell if someone was guilty or not and they let me go

love the comment about dresssing up,,,the whole group should do that and they will know you are not their "peers" and let you go !

When I was called for jury duty twice I had to tell the judge I couldn't do it because my parents are handicapped and we had one car in the house hold. He let me go and I haven't been called in since well I hope not.

Jury Duty I think that it's a sad statement on the state of America when the first question you ask about Jury Duty is how to get out of it. Do you really want the jury that you could face in the future be made up of unemployed folks? Or only people who are not smart enough to figure out how to game the system?

In regards to the timing: First, jury duty may be postponed. So, if this coming week is bad, postpone until later. Second, you didn't say if this was King County or not, but King County doesn't sit juries on Fridays, so it wouldn't be a problem in that case. Third, what you have is a summons to show up. Then, if they need jurors that day, you might get selected into a jury pool, and face Voire Dire for a seat on the jury. If you make it through Voire Dire, then and only then would you have a time commitment of more than the two days of sitting being bored in the court house.

But seriously, jury duty is part of what makes our court system function in any reasonable and fair way. The duty of a citizen to sit and listen to the evidence and offer an opinion is critical to there still being justice that is not pay to play in this country.

The court is well aware of the value of jurists, and that ten dollars a day is rather poor reward. This amount has not changed since Eisenhower was president.

I have been on juries before, and I think you would find it quite an experience. And the chances of getting on to a jury are fairly low, unless there are a large number of trials starting right then. So show up, take the chance, and maybe make a change in the world.

I got called for jury duty right during Dragon Con last year. So I wrote back to them "Hey I have a event Im at that is out of state at that time. Can I be rescheduled for "enter time i was able". I then sent it in. I got rescheduled for a few weeks later, sat there for a few hrs and ended up not being picked.

There is a hardship you can claim. I doubt they will outright cancle yr jury duty but they will move it to a time you can serve. Least that is how it works in NY state.