I took the age exemption. (When I was nursing babies I lived in fear of a jury summons. Is that now an allowed exemption? Just curious.)
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In my state if you are the primary caregiver of a child you can get an exemption.
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Not here. Like I said above, I had a 3 month old baby…and I put that on my request to the court when I appeared. I also was the only one in my school district at the time who did my special education service job. I was not excused from the day…
And I was selected for the (almost month long) jury duty. Oh…and it was a boundary dispute. If you really want to hear very boring testimony, you have to hear surveyors. We heard six or so of them. Yawn!!
When I got jury summons, it was well in advance of the dates for jury service, so it is unlikely that they knew how full the schedule was. But it did seem like they summoned far more jurors than they were likely to need, most of whom did not get called into the court house (even after some are postponed or exempted).
I have been called for jury duty about 6 times now, and only actually was chosen 3 of those, and only actually went to trial — none. Zero. Zip. I think if we want the legal system to work, we have to do our job, as inconvenient as it might seem.
I was once exempted as the primary caregiver of two toddlers, but that was the only time. I have seen people exempted for surgery, prepaid travel, and work requirements. You just never know.
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In San Diego County, you’re not excused for age per se but if you’re over 70, you can self attest to your health and be permanently excused. Under 70, you need a doctor’s note. “If you have health concerns and are over the age of 70, you may be permanently excused without a doctor’s letter.”
I always have health concerns so when I got my notice last year, I took myself out forever.
I was excused once because the attorneys didn’t want me (an attorney) on the jury. Served as foreperson on another jury, even after having been a part time judge. The retired fire chief said, let’s have her be foreperson so they all agreed. It took a week (tho without all the delays, it should have only taken 1-2 days). We only deliberated a very short time and pretty promptly acquitted. It was interesting.
During covid, my MDs wrote a letter that said I shouldn’t serve because it would be potentially life threatening due to my health issues. H is exempted due to age (>80). D is exempted due to health issues—her mds wrote a letter.
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As I look at the options, our state allows many exemptions (including for full time students). At my age I do not have to have a medical reason, age alone qualifies.
This summons came a few weeks before the appearance date. Court calendars change all the time- witnesses are unavailable, attorneys have conflicting calendars, etc. But IIRC they generally have an idea of about how many days cases will take (if they don’t settle, as many do) and when there may be a big case that could take a long time or could take many potential jurors to be screened before a jury can be seated.
Here, the mothers of babies (nursing or not) are one of the only ‘automatic’ exceptions. If you are nursing a child who is 3-4 years old? You’d have to request an exception. My friend tried to get off because she had kids in grade school (and she did pick them up every day at 3). Nope. As I said above, the city/county provide child care for jurors.
We used to have all kinds of auto exceptions: law enforcement, attorneys, insurance people, psychologists, social workers, students. There were so many exceptions the same people were called all the time. So they did away with all the exceptions. In fact, one of the judges in Boulder was called to jury duty and he had to appear. The questioning began, he said his name (which everyone knew), what he did for a living, the sitting judge excused him, and he went across the hall to his own courtroom.
I had a psychologist throw a fit about having to wait for the judge to arrive at the courtroom before he could be excused. We had a process but he didn’t want to follow it. Did we not understand just how important he was? That he charged by the hour and we were eating into his business? I hoped he got a parking ticket because he was such a jerk.
I have been summoned exactly once in my life. It was during covid so they weren’t doing that many trials. I didn’t make it out of the jury assembly room.
My daughter, on the other hand, was called when she was 19, and of course she was picked. It was for an attempted murder case!
H and I just finished our jury duty stints earlier this year. He had January-February and I had March-April. We are now good for 3 years.
For us, we are sent a questionnaire about whether you can serve. There are all kinds of request for exemptions. Age is easy. But my coworker takes care of her husband with Alzheimer’s. Obviously, she can still work, but she needs to be available to get to him at any minute. She wrote that down and has been left alone
After the questionnaire, if they don’t accept your request, within the year you will get the summons to appear. But even then you can lists dates that you can’t be there. They will even accept doctors appointments. H had one of those. Vacation planned? Fine. They just need to know in advance.
They pick 200 potential jurors for the 2 month period. There are roughly 15-25 cases in those two months. But most will be settled. The times we’ve done it, maybe 4-5 in 2 months actually happen. And then they break those 100 jurors into groups A, B, etc so only one of those groups has to appear. Typically you only get called in 1-2x in the 2 months. H had to go twice. I went once. I was not selected. H was but was dismissed for not being able to be impartial.
I’ve been summoned a number of times, and seated on a jury once, two summers ago. It was an interesting process. When the kids were young I always asked for an exemption…I called rather than sent back the form, which IMO gives a higher chance of success.
The last time I was summoned on a Monday when I was selected for the jury was interesting, for a trial expected to last a couple of days. I was one of the last groups called to be questioned, and was paying close attention to what was happening in the court room as groups went into the juror seats to answer questions from the judge and attorneys. So many people were let go because they had home responsibilities, were landlords (case was tenant lawsuit against landlord), and travel later in the week.
I watched as some people in the later groups literally booked flights in the next couple of days on airline apps. Then, when called, they said they have a business trip that week, showed the court clerk their plane ticket on their phone, and were excused. I had plenty of time to book a flight, but ultimately decided I would stay since I had never served and did have the time this go round.
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that was fast. Just got an email that I have been excused.
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I’ve asked a couple of times if I could be moved to a different week. (I ran a small business and the jury duty was a critical time). I suggest the following month. They ok’d it, but didn’t send another notice!
My first time being called in I too was dismissed for not being able to be impartial -
The trial was a DUI hit and run. All I said (and it is true) was that my partner is a quadriplegic due to a hit and run. I didn’t even receive requests for 15 years after that.
I still haven’t served, but if I could swing it financially I would.
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My H was called for a burglary case. they asked the panel if anyone have ever been a burglary victim. H’s hand went up and he and others with raised hands were excused.
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My H and I have had jury duty notices lots of times… but at least in our area, everyone is assigned to a group, you check your group number either online or by calling a phone number, and you don’t actually go in to the courthouse unless your group is called in. Most groups are released from jury duty without having to come in. I’ve never actually had to go to the courthouse and my H has gone a couple of times but was never selected.
My S23 received a jury duty notice early this year… he had a planned trip overlapping that date, and I explained to him that he could postpone it. He didn’t get around to postponing it until way past the deadline for doing so. Then he tried to postpone, and his request was denied. Then he went on the trip anyway. 
This made me nervous! But he was lucky. He kept checking his group number online, the group number was not called and was eventually released. Whew!!!
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I served on a grand jury last August for a month. I thought of postponing but I really had nothing much going on as we were home for the later part of summer. It was actually an interesting experience. I get that it’s time consuming and 90% of it is very boring and we were dismissed half the time after an hour or so, but I am glad I did it and I enjoyed the check at the end. I’d say go for it because it’s only 1 week.
My hubby was on a call-in system and was released every day, and he is off the hook now for 7 years. If you really don’t want to do it, try for the exemption. I get that everyone wants to avoid it and I definitely wasn’t thrilled, but I also think if we can, we should. That said, if it’s a special anniversary, I totally see why you want to avoid it.
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My sister was on grand jury. It was a one year commitment but only one day or week a month, I believe. She said it was interesting. I’m not sure if her employer paid her on the days she served on grand jury and whether she had to take leave or vacation or what.
I think it’s important to serve if at all possible. After all, if we or a loved one were tried, we’d want them to have a jury of their peers. Just IMO.
I’ve been called several times. Once I was an alternate during a medical malpriactice trial and was dismissed before deliberations. And a year ago I was in a voir dire panel but fell and broke my nose coming back from lunch and that was the end of that. I am done for six more years, I think, at least in NYC/NYS court.
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I agree it’s important to serve if you can. When I was nursing babies, I wrote that on my form as was excused.
Our justice system only works if “reasonable” people serve and give their impartial decisions.
When we were guiding scouts, we’d always remind them of the right and privilege of serving on a jury of their peers.
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