For the most part do not listen to the people who say, "make racial slurs etc." Unless the judge thinks you are convincing on the subject he will nail you with contempt of court, if he thinks you are convincing there is a good chance he wont let you go until the end just to piss you off.

Not yet but I'm sure something will come up.

I was kinda waiting for military refresher training to come up (I'm Finnish so I have to...) when Skyrim comes out since I haven't been there for years. But they don't call you this short notice so I think that base is covered.

Anything that would take more than the friday can't come up at work so thats checked.

So maybe just bliviongate:

My Fraternity is having our initiation on 11/11/11. I am going to have to wait til the wee hours for Saturday morning before I am able to experience the wonderment of Skyrim! It will be a torturous wait.

Obviously you shouldn't be over-the-top racist or stupid; all you really need to do is have an emotional opinion on the trial. If a hospital is being sued then you either say that doctors are saints who don't deserve any kind of accusatory tone, or you say you've never trusted doctors because they all cut corners and try to bleed your insurance.

Just make yourself sound ignorant and incapable of being objective.

you might be lucky enough that they wont pick your number

if you do you can still get out...go to the first day of the trial and if its anything your uncomfortable with tell them...my mom got out of jury duty that way

The problem is, the judge is looking for people trying to pull that kind of stunt since everyone and their brother suggests you try to get out of it this way. And people intentionally telling a lie in order to shirk their jury duty is frowned upon by judges. It a jury selection I was on a Psychiatrist tried to get out by saying he counsels suicidal patients and needs to be available for them at a moments notice. The judge said, well then your patients might die. They released him at the end, he basically held him there just to screw with him since he didn't buy his excuse, but on the off chance he was telling the truth they didn't want to actually keep him there. Still wasted 4 of his days.

11 August 2011? You have to travel back in time? That'd seem like a major inconvenience indeed!

You sir, just ate up most of my stastics class. Thank you :3

That man is my long lost brother :laughingmanically

You sound like you've actually been through the process. I wonder how many posting here have? All this unrealistic TV drama talk... it doesn't happen. This is my 32 years of experience with being summoned in the US...

The majority of summonses are for telephone standby duties, and last one week. You simply call each evening to find out if you must appear at court the next day, and that rarely happens. It's a simplistic machine, no live people. Often, the robo-voice tells you by Wednesday that you no longer need call. That's it, all done.

The majority of folks called to actually appear are released that same day. Once they have enough potentials, they begin allowing the more 'flaky' excuses. Our group (about 150 people) had, among others, one 86yo vet that was excused & we gave him a standing ovation, too.

The majority of cases are one day civil trials that begin & end that very day. Chances are high that you'll be finished & home in time for supper.

Long term cases, such as criminal, are quite rare.

The Q&A sorting:
If you're actually selected to serve, you get a short questionnaire collected by a bored clerk.

If you 'pass' that, there's another questionnaire, designed to weed through potentials for that particular type of trial (civil/criminal), collected by another bored clerk.

If you pass that, there's a vetting session that includes all that case's potential jurors (30-ish), the Judge, Lawyers, and their clients. They expand on your responses to questionnaire #2, they ask, you answer. Hysterics and long winded monologues are not allowed, and may cost you dearly (read the warnings on the questionnaires!). It's mostly Yes : No replies.

If you pass that, you have an opportunity to personally speak to the Judge concerning serving. Any issues that weren't already covered in questionnaire #1 and #2 can then be discussed.

Even if you did not know he was using US date format, which you do , 11-07-11 would translate to 11 July 2011 in the other time format , not into August

A professor once told me that the easiest way to get out of Jury Duty is going with your worst face on, acting like a dike to everyone and displaying a great sense of discomfort in being called there.

Acting like a crazy lunatic might work as well, but the above is somewhat more 'civilized' and less prone in getting you in trouble.



Oh and if freedom of speech hold out there, when people try to socialize with you or when they call your name just say "What the [censored] you guys want from me now?"
In short, Just act like a complete nuisance that way they will not want you in court. :thumbsup:

Doesn't mean you will get selected..or that the case will last more than a couple days?
Good luck

My wife got a Jury summons yesterday as well, but it is for 10-27

Exactly. I've been through the process 4 times.(not counting the 5 or 6 times the robo-message said don't bother coming in) Only once did I get to the point where I was asked questions, one time I was released with no reason given, one time they let us know that the defendant had accepted a plea deal. one time I was told it was for a cop killer trial but since 3 cops were murdered in Alameda that weekend they wanted to delay the trial due to a chance of prejudice from the jury. The one time I was asked questions they wanted to explain my undue hardship excuse and I just explained that I wait tables for a living and any trial over a week would mean I would not be capable of making rent this month, they kept me there for a bit then let me go after the psychiatrist. Now I know people who were on long trials but they are the exception not the rule, usually it is a day to a week trial and if selected you will be out soon.

Curses, foiled again!

They might mess with you if they think you're lying, but in the end they won't let someone with potentially jury corrupting opinions go to an actual trial. That's the beautiful thing about it, they can be skeptical of you all they want but they can't prove or dissprove what your opinions are. If you don't appear objective they can't take you.

9 times out of 10 they won't even mess with you, though, and losing 4 days is better than losing an entire week/month of your life at trial.

Damn that svcks, glad i'm 15 xD... and English ;P

Dress nice, wear a lot of cologne, look really excited to be there.
They will probably pass on you.

when you go there; start filling your pants with brown flour or something....so they deem you crazy