In the past 35 years, I received only 2 summons for petit juror at state court, first time got to go through selection process but prosecutor excused me, second time my juror number was high and I never reported.
My son, who is 26, received 2 summons in 4 years, was excused the first time during selection 4 years ago. He was supposed to serve this past week, but for some reasons, they did not ask for any juror reporting for the entire week. I wonder why? Maybe due to vacation schedule, prosecutor, defense attorney or judge not available?
My daughter who is 20, always received one summon, but her juror # was high so never called to report.
So if your juror # is very high, is it likely you don’t have to report since they seem to start with #001…
Any of you has actually been selected to serve in a trial? How long did that last?
I’ve been called to jury duty 5 times (I’d guess in the last 20 years). 1 time I was on the jury but it was settled before we heard the case, 1 time I as an alternate so I heard the case but never deliberated, twice I actually served on the jury and deliberated and once I was “on call” and never actually stepped foot at the court (my group was never called in). So my saying is “If I enter the courthouse, I’m on a jury”. (Sigh!) The juries I was on were generally short (3-5 days).
My H OTOH, goes to jury duty, sits in the jury waiting room a few hours and is sent home by lunch time because they don’t need anyone. Or he’s on call and never even has to go in. (Go figure!)
My D had her first jury duty at age 20 and had to go in but like my H was sent home at lunch time.
This is going to vary so much state by state that I really have to question whether the question is worth asking. You get a summons to give you notice. Would you prefer to be called the night before? Cases settle; trials get continued (put over to a later date). That’s why you get to call in (or whatever system your locality uses) and find out if you really need to show up. Juror # is totally random in my state (see first sentence). I’m a lawyer. I’ve never been selected and never expect to be, but I’ll always show up and be ready to do my civic duty.
In my county, the judges have their schedules for trials several weeks in advance. As the time for trial approaches, some cases will settle. Sometimes cases settle while the parties are outside the courtroom, waiting for their trial to be called. So, for example, one week before the jury duty week, the judges and clerks in a county might think they need enough potential jurors for five trials. The Friday before, one case might settle. That drops the number of potential jurors. By Monday morning, two more cases might have settled. So a potential juror whose number was still “up” on Friday night might no longer be needed by Monday morning, because only enough jurors and alternates for two trials are needed. In my state, jurors are paid for their days of service. It’s not a lot, but it adds up for dozens of potential jurors, so the judges and clerks want to let potential jurors know that they’re off the hook before they arrive at the courthouse.
Generally speaking, the number of civil trials is falling greatly in the United States, and while there are still many criminal prosecutions, a lot of those are resolved by plea bargains.
I was summoned in OR and CA, just before leaving each state for good (had been a student in each state). Was excused. I was also summoned 4 times in HI. The 1st 2 times I was excused as I was a nursing mother and sole caregiver for my babies. I showed up the next 2 times–was pre-empterlty dismissed by an attorney the 3rd time and served as foreperson for the 4th time (the retired fire chief on our jury said I should be foreperson and to speed things along, I acquiesced.
The case lasted a week, tho I believe it really could and should have been a lot quicker. We were given the case just before lunch, took a poll and realized we were 11-1 to acquit, had lunch break while we spoke about why we each voted as we did and after lunch voted again and were unanimous to acquit. The experience was positive. I have always found jurors to be sincere and hard-working, trying hard to discharge their duty properly.
I’ve been called for jury duty one time (I say while knocking on wood). I got selected for the jury. it was a boundary dispute. Judge said the trial would take three days…and really…it would have IF the court had actually convened for three full days. But…it lasted for three weeks. A couple of hours or less per day. Yes…some days we sat there and then were excused for the day.
But gotta say…my jury was lots of fun! We actually got together for a few years after…because we liked one another!
My husband seems to get called yearly. He has never had to even show up at the courthouse…calls the night before and they tell him not to come.
@AboutTheSame, please do not get me wrong, I am NOT complaining about jury duty, it’s my duty to serve, I am just curious how others’ experience is. I understand the system varies by state, even by counties within a state.
CCers entertain all kinds of topics and questions, I thought why not talk about jury duty?
My county requires a 5 day jury service, while another county in north part of state only asks for 2 days of service.
A lot of people never even get called, but I find it interesting that they NEVER called in any juror for the ENTIRE week last week when my son was supposed to serve. (Even if they call, they likely won’t reach him since his # is in the 1300’s.
Jurors numbers are assigned randomly, and in my county, it appears that when they do call in jurors, they always start with juror #001.
My husband has only received one summon over the years.
I have also served once in grand jury, one day each week for almost 3 months! But that was interesting, we got to go through a few cases each time and often times we actually “worked” the whole day except for lunch break.
Last year I had grand jury duty, so named because it’s a grand pain in the butt, for 6 weeks. It’s also pointless, and that’s not just my opinion. Pretty much all the other nations (except for Liberia) don’t use them any more, and only about half the US states do. So it is possible to mete out justice without them, but New York has a very entrenched system going, so there you are.
We heard 60-plus cases presented by 25 or so assistant DAs. The best-prepared, most credible one went to a community college, then a state directional university, then an obscure law school. (We were warned not to check up on the credentials of the DA’s staff until after our service period was over. I went home after our last session and did just that.) It was easy to tell which ADAs expected the jury to swallow whatever they served up without question, because they got ticked when the questioning went in a direction they didn’t care for. There was an obvious clubby atmosphere. This guy (and a handful of others) was professional and prepared, and allowed us to believe we weren’t there just to rubber stamp the proceedings. Which we were, of course, but it was nice not to have our noses rubbed in that fact.
I’m now exempt in this state for the next 11 years.
When I lived in Dallas, TX I was called twice but one time I was a full time student and the other time I had a child under 10 - I was excused both times.
I’m 60 years old and have lived in my county for 28 years - county had 42,000 people in it in 1988 and has 215,000 now - I’ve never been called for jury duty. I vote, I drive, I’m not a felon - I feel slighted.
For superior court in CT…you are called for one day. You call,the night before to see if you have to show up…or if you are excused. If you go for your one day and are not chosen for a jury…you are done for a year…can’t be called again. If you get selected…you serve and then can’t be called again for three years.
Our county gives you the choice of calling in for 5 days or showing up for one. If you do call-in and end up being called in then you are done. Either way it’s “one and done”. Of course, if in either case you end up on a jury you are there for the duration of the trial.
Disclaimer: I am a civil trial attorney and pick juries and try cases for a living, so I really want to thank all of you who do your jury duty and don’t shirk it. The system could not function without you.
That said, I have been called 5 times, twice I no longer lived in the county where I was summoned. The third time, I was excused without being put on a panel. The 4th time, I made it to the panel on a manslaughter trial but was excused. I was peeved because I would have been interested to sit on a trial where the defendant’s ex-wife and former mother-in-law were going to be alibi witnesses. The last time, I was chosen and listened to 2 days of testimony in a robbery case before a plea deal was reached. A few weeks ago, I received a questionnaire for Federal jury duty.
When I first started practicing, jurors sat for 2 weeks, longer if they were put on a case. Now, unless you are put on a case, you are generally done in two days, if your number is even reached.
Over the years, I’ve been called many times, and served on 3 juries (NJ). When I was a SAHM, I was excused. When I was called up, I was always chosen for a jury, and I found the experience to be extremely rewarding. The last case was a very dramatic attempted murder case, involving every stereotypical NJ character you could think of. It lasted four weeks and ended in a hung jury. I wound up being an alternate juror on that case, and I’m kind of glad I did, because the jurors who deliberated were very upset/angry. I got to hang around the vending machines and chat with my fellow alternates. It can be a real bonding experience.
The latest time, I got called up to the courtroom, but not called to the jury. That was a lawsuit involving somebody who cracked his tooth on a foreign object in his frozen crabcake. The variety of cases has been very entertaining.
Kid was called and picked for a jury duty during her winter break. Three days, minor crime case, hung jury.:. She laughed that there was a lawyer picked in her group. No one likes lawyers as jurors unless they are patent lawyers. Basically, nerds with a law degree. Lol.
My county in NJ requires 5 days, and we call the night before to see if we need to go in the next day. I think for NJ, it is 3 years that you won’t be called again.
I agree, grand jury is “a grand pain in the butt”, it is more tiring than going to work lol, though I found some cases very interesting. From what I hear, it is very difficult to get excused from grand jury.
I’ve been called 3 times but only served once. Was a drug trial and the main witness was dead so only had his statements to police. Didn’t matter there was enough other evidence to convict. Only needed about 5 minutes to deliberate but we sat in jury room another hour. After we were told by the DA he was a very dangerous guy and there was a lot of other stuff that couldn’t be presented at this trial.
Well, they do allow you to delay grand jury service once and choose a more convenient time. Fortunately for me, since I was originally called to begin the week of my daughter’s wedding. I hate driving in snow, so I delayed my service until spring and would do that again. How to make grand jury duty worse - drive there in a blizzard.
When you’re on a grand jury, you don’t go in 5 days a week for 6 weeks, you just have to be prepared to do that. (So if your job requires out of state travel, too bad.) I was called in 21 days out of the possible 30 day service period.
It does present a real hardship for people who earn more than the $40 stipend per day but whose employers won’t supplement that or continue their salary. The commissioner’s office validates up to $4 a day for parking. Woo-hoo.
You’re allowed to miss 2 days for illness or family obligations. One very young man lost his mother unexpectedly during jury service and they refused to excuse him for more than those 2 days.
Family member was on a grand jury. He has to report once a month for a long time…six months, a year? I don’t remember. He said it would be a hardship for his employer…and the judge said he would be happy to,write to the employer stating that this was not a hardship. Relative was also the foreman of the grand jury…so that just added to the work.
I got a summons for jury duty once. We had to call in every day to see of our number was up. Mine was selected. I was selected for a trial. That lasted several days. Then the following week I had to call in again and my number was selected. I was placed on a jury again and that trial lasted the week,
