OH %&*(& Jury duty!

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I go to school four days a week. I just got a jury summons, I swear I get them every four months! I so can not deal with this while in school, and they do not let you out of it for school unless it is the first week of classes or finals week. The day I have to appear and argue my getting out of it is on the day of my clinicals.

Any suggestions or stories of what you have done?

We may disagree. I do try to get out of jury duty but if I can't I'll go. I just see duty to the country as a catch all phrase that the gov't sometimes uses to get people to do things. Military service for example. Where does the duty end?

Anyone that has ever given Uncle Sam a signed check for the amount of 'Up To and Including My Life' has served their duty. That pretty much includes soldiers, firemen, police and a few other groups out there. It should include nurses and CNAs too. People who serve the public are doing their duty more so than others. Why do some have to fulfill more duty?

I will not advocate lying to get out of jury duty. I won't say it's good to ignore the summons either. I just think certain people should be excused.

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Specializes in ER/Ortho.

I live in Dallas Texas, and they will exempt you if you are a full time student. It doesn't matter if your off the day or even the week that your supposed to be at Jury Duty if you are a full time student in college you do not have to go. I got one a few weeks ago, and on the back it says you are exempt if you are one of the following, and asked me to check the appropriate box if I met one of the criteria.

I believe it was 1. Full time student

2. Not a legal citizen

3. Felon

4. Permanant disabled

5. Caring for a child under a certain age.

I checked full time student, and last week I got a letter in the mail saying I was excused. I am even out for summer break, but still was able to get excused because I am registered for the Nursing program coming up in Aug. I guess they dont want me to get picked, and not be able to show up because my NS program has started.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Medsurg.

When I got my summons I just called and told them that I had a newborn and no sitter and that I would have to bring her. They let me out of it. (I'll bet if you said you had a 2 yr old that would work too, they are worse than infants). If you do end up going, just tell them you believe anyone who breaks the law should serve life in jail.......that'll get you off the hook for sure....LOL. You'll be able to tell the defining questions, just make sure you give the wrong answers.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

if you get called, go. it is not hard to get out of a jury. you get paid for the day. take something with you to read.

i got called for la criminal courts and i wanted to get on a jury because i had nothing better to do. i got sent to a courtroom that was seating jurors for a serious assault trial. the defendant (i didn't know who she was) sat next to me outside the court while we were waiting for the bailiff to unlock the door and i started to chat with her. she got up and walked away when her lawyer came down the hall. then, when we got into the courtroom i saw who she was and i think that might be why i was dismissed.

i couldn't believe the people that showed up! they were hard of hearing, could barely speak english, one guy fell asleep and the person next to him had to elbow him when the judge asked him a question. we were asked if we watched csi and anyone who raised their hand got dismissed. anyone who had been on a jury before was asked if they had convicted the defendant and what their jury experience had been like--they were dismissed. anyone who got argumentative with the judge or the lawyers got dismissed. two lawyers who were there for jury duty were dismissed almost right away. this was an assault case and the other rn in the jury pool (we were all asked our occupations) was dismissed early. we were asked if we or anyone in our families had been the victim of a crime or had been convicted or a crime--if so, they were dismissed. someone took a murder mystery with them to read that day and were asked about it--they were dismissed. if you look inattentive you won't be staying long. telling tem that you want to serve on a jury really bad will probably get you dismissed! if you have a medical problem or medical appointments you will probably be dismissed, but try to show up or they will just make you come at a later date. attendance is crucial once someone gets on a jury, so they take that into consideration when choosing jurors.

beside that, it's interesting. the judge and lawyers, if you get called to a courtroom, almost always treat you very respectfully. they give you a quick rundown of how much time the case is expected to take. as a group, we were asked general questions about our occupation and whether or not we ever served on a jury before and then each lawyer was allowed to ask questions of us and request specific ones of us be dismissed.

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Hey, I'm not sure about your county but I took my letter and my school schedule and explained to them I was in nursing school and if I miss even for jury duty I could face a failure. They let me out of it and said my name would go back on the list for later. I haven't recieved another letter yet so maybe they wrote down my graduation date and plan on putting me back on there afterward.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

I get jury duty notices all the time and I'm not even eligible for duty as I'm a resident not a citizen. I have to call up everytime and just select that I'm not a citizen on the autoprompt.

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It has been about 4 years since I received a jury summons. At the time I was still in my prior career, not in school, and my employer did not pay for jury service time. As luck would have it, I was selected to serve on the jury. I have a hard time lying. To top it off, it was a medical malpractice case. The lawyers asked me if I had the ability to keep an open mind and consider the evidence. That is my "specialty". Turns out the plantiff was suing the doctor for causing a pneumothorax when giving a cortisone injection. It was a great learning experience and my background and knowledge of the equipment and anatomy helped me express my stance when it came time to decide the case. Luckily it only took up four days of my time. I'd have been screwed financially if it had been one of those months long murder cases.

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I deferred my service for up to 6mo (I'm in Cali) while I was in nursing school. During prereqs I claimed hardship (significant wage loss because I was waiting tables). As for feeling you get called more often than usual, that happened to me (I got 3 summons last year!!!). So I contacted the jury duty people and they had me listed twice!!! Same name, same address, same birth month/day, DIFFERENT birth YEAR!!! So for the past 10 years I have been receiving @ least 1 summons per year (sometimes 2, last year 3) because according to their computer I was two people!!! Fixed that problem real quick!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
las2009: I would be very appreciative if jurors got full pay for the time they are serving. Perhaps between lawmakers and employers, it could be done.

Every job I had, all I had to do was bring proof of my days in court on jury duty (and the court provides you with that) as well as the check I got from the court and I got a full days pay. It is a benefit of the job. Isn't it a law that employers have to do this in larger companies of some states? I think you can tell the judge that your employer doesn't give you the difference between what the court pays and your salary and that it would create a financial hardship for you when you are questioned for a jury panel.

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Specializes in ER/Ortho.

Here in Texas at least in Dallas county a company does NOT have to pay you for jury duty. I went several years ago, and mine did. It was nice, but they didn't have to. As far as financial hardship here we do NOT have that exemption. I remember the time I went the judge said if there is anyone here who feels they should not be here approach me and tell me why. I was sitting up front and could here everything. A man went up and told the judge he was a single parent of a toddler and worked for him self in construction, and lived from paycheck to paycheck. He explained that even being there for the one day would mean he would not be able to afford the daycare bill, and therefor he would not be able to go to work, and then of course would be short on food, rent etc. The judge told him since his daughter was in daycare he was not considered for the exemption of caregiver of child under 10, and as far as financial hardship we didn't have that, and it was his civic duty to be there.

Here we have certain exemptions which include.

Full time student

Caregiver of child under 10 (not in daycare).

Felon

Not a legal resident

Disabled (must send proof)

Caring for someone disabled or ill (must send proof)

Having a Dr's appointment (must send proof)

In addition, I just got a summons a few weeks ago, and got out of it on the full time student exemption.I noticed there was a new exemption that was something like provides health care, or works in health care field etc. So I might be exempt just for being a nurse when I graduate. I will have to look into it.

I know here if you don't show up or respond they can put a warrant out for your arrest, and you could get jail time, a fine or both.

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