Jury duty...

BabyRN2Be · Jul 6, 2005

No, I've never been called for jury duty. BUT, I've had friends called in while in school. I believe that if you can prove that you are a full time student and in a program such as nursing, that you may be excused from jury duty.

I don't know if jury duty and nursing school would go well together.

Nathalie · Jul 6, 2005

Is that happening to you? THAT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!!!! It has never happened to me and I hope it doesnt. My God, we work our butts off to make it through school. Do they honestly think that we have time to go sit in court and hear other people issues when we already have our own? Good luck to you. I think you can try to get out of it but I dont know how.

Nurse Ratched, RN · Jul 6, 2005

I received the form to fill out - sent it back in with a notation under "any reason why you can't serve" saying I was a FT nursing student and missing class/clinicals would be a major burden. They really don't want people who REALLY don't want to be there lol. I never heard back and no one ever hunted me down for contempt.

unknown99, BSN, RN · Jul 6, 2005

yes, it did. I was able to be excluded due to being in clinicals. I had to get a notorized statement from the Dean of Nursing stating why I should be excluded and what consequences it would have if I had to miss class/clinicals.

FarmgrrlRN · Jul 6, 2005

I received notice that I was to start this past May 3....the day of my nursing final! My program coordinator wrote a letter for me on school letterhead and I took it to the courthouse myself. The lady working the counter said, "How about October then?". I had to say "OK" since I graduated!

RNmaria · Jul 6, 2005

Yes, it is happening to me now! I received a letter on June 30th for jury duty in September! I imediately composed a letter stating my "compelling reasons" why I should be excused from jury duty. I just have to wait and see how they respond to that letter. My next step is what somone suggested is to go to my dean and get a letter from them. I am hoping to get this all resolved on my own. I did state in my letter what I had to do in order to be accepted as well as clinicals that cannot be missed.

Get this...in my jury selection letter it is a malpratice case! I also stated that I would be a bit biased in a case such as this!

Thanks for the input! I'll post my progress. Any other stories are greatly appreciated!

Pasha :)

baby&mommynurse · Jul 6, 2005

Just keep postponing service until they won't let you anymore... or schedule when you know you will be able to. Same thing happened to me when I was in nursing school. Now that I'm working, I have no excuse. Matter of fact, I'm scheduled all this week for jury duty. I have to call in the night before to see if I have to go in for service... haven't had to go in yet. *crossing my fingers* Two more days of this and my week is up.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jul 6, 2005

Remember all they do is pull you from either voter registration or from DMV records - they have no idea what you may be doing.

Try getting a summons for a county that you have your driver's license in, you're currently stationed fifteen hundred miles away - but you're doing a six month tour in the Middle East! And YES, they wanted a letter AND a copy of my orders, which I had to fax from a military base in Saudi Arabia!

Now THAT should be illegal!

leopold · Jul 6, 2005

just got a summons the other day. I will actually be on break but I'm going to try to get out of it cause if it runs into my school schedule I will be screwed.

Nesher, BSN, RN · Jul 6, 2005

I have been excused while in school twice (BSN amd MN).

mtnmom · Jul 6, 2005

as far as i know most jurisdictions will allow excuse from jury duty for full-time students or new/nursing mothers. there are not many other excuses that i know of that will cut it. being self-employed and losing income or not having childcare are not acceptable excuses as far as they are concerned. that part stinks but if they start making exceptions for this and that then pretty soon there is no one left to select from.

i have only ever been called one time, right before i started nursing school. after waiting in a jury pool i got finally impaneled for a case - it turned out to be a personal injury case - but quickly got cut after they found out i had a medical background, had several relatives that were attorneys and one that is a judge, and had been involved in an insurance settlement once (in my teens). i was sort of looking forward to getting to participate.

if you get empaneled and really dont want to serve - with a little common sense you can likely answer their questions truthfully but at the same time manage to get yourself excluded. if it is a criminal case, if you come out sounding either really liberal or ultra-conservative then you'll likely be cut by either defense or prosecution. questions are phrased to cut anyone with any obvious prejudice pre-existing either way. since most of us as humans are prone to first impressions and prejudices, it is difficult for some of us to be totally objective and that is what the legal team wants to know.

all that having been said...

if you do get empaneled and then selected for jury duty then deal with it and serve proudly. pay attention to the proceedings and do your best as a juror. to serve on a jury is a privelege and your civic duty. while, admittedly, our judicial system may have its flaws it is still one of the best and fairest in the world. a trial by a jury of peers is a right guranteed under the most basic of laws governing our country and all 50 states.

if it were you or your family member or friend on either side of the proceedings - wouldn't you want competent and interested jurors? or would you settle for whiny jurors who could think of nothing else but how much of an inconvenience the trial was to them?

hope i havent ruffled any feathers here. this is something i feel really strongly about though.