Some people go for years in their adult life without getting jury duty. If so, consider yourself lucky. There’s an element of chance with jury duty selection to some extent.
Usually, a time will come at some juncture when you get that dreaded jury summons notice in the mail. While some people like jury duty, most don’t enjoy the process. It’s like going to the dentist. It’s an obligation, not something you do for the joy of it.
You can sometimes get out of jury duty. Often, you can excuse yourself once or possibly twice. Eventually, though, you must submit. Let’s talk about what you can expect when you do.
Calling In
Let’s say you get a jury duty summons in the mail. You might get out of it once or twice if you’re busy. You can usually excuse yourself a couple of times without needing to explain why.
When you see you have no choice but to get it over with, you can call the number on the piece of mail you get. You will probably get a recorded voice telling you what you need to do.
Usually, the court system where you live will divide you into a group, one among several that make up that particular jury pool. The recording will tell you where you must go and when you should arrive.
You must tell your boss that you can’t come to work on the day in question. If you’re self-employed, then this process becomes a lot easier and simpler.
Remember, though, that your boss must let you off work for jury duty. They have no choice. If they try to say you can’t do jury duty and that you must come in to work instead, tell representatives from your local court system. You can contact them via the website for your town or city.
Your boss can get in a lot of trouble if they try to stop you from doing jury duty. The local government feels that jury duty trumps your usual job.
Showing Up for Jury Duty
You will show up for jury duty, usually early in the morning, at the address the piece of mail that you received mentioned. You typically must go to the courthouse. It’s often downtown in the city or town in which you live.
When you arrive, you will usually wait in a large room. It normally has a lot of tables and chairs to accommodate the jury pool. When you look around, you will probably see people from all walks of life. Some might dress nicely for the occasion, others less so.
You won’t see anyone younger than 18, but you may see individuals in their 70s or even 80s. Often, if you become much older than that, then the court system will excuse you, especially if you have medical problems that prohibit you from taking part in this process.
A court officer will tell you what you must do. Usually, they will divide you into groups, then have you wait. They will process you either one at a time or one small group at a time.
Playing the Waiting Game
You should try to bring a book with you, or a magazine, or a laptop. You might bring a tablet instead. If you have your smartphone, then you can at least use that to play games or to look at websites you like while you’re waiting for the court officer to process you.
It’s usually pretty boring. Some people might have work that they do on their laptops or tablets. You might see some people put their heads down and doze.
You should at least have Wi-Fi in most instances. Hopefully, the sorting process won’t take very long, but in some cases, you might wait for several hours.
You May Have to Come Back the Following Day
After waiting for a while, the court officer might call your number, name, or group. If so, they will decide whether to release you from service or whether they might officially select you for a jury for an upcoming trial.
You will usually go into another room for that. You might go into an actual courtroom for this part of the process.
In some instances, the sorting process might seem unusually slow. That’s often because the two legal counsels for an upcoming trial might have questions for you. They can ask that the judge dismiss certain prospective jurors if they feel someone might prove problematic.
In the worst of cases, you might have to go home and come back the following day to go through the process again.
Winnowing Down the Remaining Jury Pool
Whether the court officer and the two legal counsels get through the whole jury pool in one day or not, you should get to a point where you’re receiving personal consideration for a jury role. That often happens when you and a smaller group go into a courtroom.
There, you should see a defendant. You might see a plaintiff as well if it’s a civil trial. You won’t know whether it’s a civil or a criminal trial till you get into the courtroom.
Usually, the presiding judge will tell you that. They likely won’t mention too many of the case’s details, at least not at that point.
The judge might ask each person at this stage whether they have any problems with a certain industry or niche. For instance, maybe you have a plaintiff who’s suing the police department for excessive force.
If so, the judge might ask each prospective juror whether the police ever arrested them and whether they bear any grudge toward cops because of it. You should answer truthfully if you feel you might have a bias.One legal counsel or the other might reject you as a candidate. At that point, you can go home. If both legal counsels feel you can be on the jury, that’s what you have in store.
