jury duty? in college?

MSHSMOM
Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:54:23 +0000

My dd registered to vote as soon as she turned 18 (at home) and then re-registered to vote at school so she could vote in person. Her school is in OH, where it actually mattered, whereas home is IL which had the results called within minutes of the polls closing. If she got a jury summons at school, she’d have no way to get to court and would obviously miss classes. Hopefully she won’t have to deal with that.

I, on the other hand, get called for jury duty fairly regularly. I’ve served on 2 juries, forewoman for 1, was dismissed after questioning once and have spent several days in waiting rooms before being dismissed. I’m happy to serve, although I’m not sure how I’m a “peer” for some of those on trial.

The last time I served was on a first degree murder trial at a courthouse in a rough neighborhood (26th and Cal for Chicagoans). After finding a gang leader guilty of first degree murder at 11PM on a Friday night, the guards escorted us to our cars, but we then had to drive through the neighborhoods to get to the highway to get home. I was terrified and my husband was pretty unhappy waiting for me to get home safely. Frankly, the whole experience was unpleasant including the “peers” in the jury box making all kinds of excuses and inflammatory statements to get out of serving*, the fresh air we were allowed while surrounded by guards in the jailhouse yard with inmates yelling at us, and the prison food they served us (seriously, the courthouse cafeteria was under construction) for lunch and dinner.

I was just summoned to that courthouse again, and postponed my service date and wrote a letter requesting a change of courthouse. I have no intention of serving at that location again.


For those who think making inflammatory statements will get them out of jury duty, I can tell you that about 4 of my fellow jurors during that last trial had made one of those statements. There were also an incredible number of people that had plane tickets and doctor appointments that they’d waited 2 years for planned for the next day. Some of those were excused, some not. I can tell you that even your fellow jurors can tell when you’re just trying to get out of serving.