jury summons

oregon

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In oregon a job/work conflict will work. If you are self employed that can be used to get you out of it or to reschedule. You could offer to do that. Explain why it is currently an inconvenience and ask for a different date.
You'll still serve, but it will be later on.
Daniela
 

lnbandcats

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I have received 3. The first was in New Hampshire and I actually served as a juror on a trial. The 2nd and 3rd time I was told to report and both times I was discharged. I loved serving on the jury and think that it is a great chance to be part of our democratic system!
 

crazyforinfo

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Originally Posted by adymarie

I would love to be summoned for Jury duty. My mom has been called twice. It always seems to me that the people who don't want to go get summoned and those of us that do, don't.
I have to agree. I hate going. I feel so uncomfortable with the whole thing. Mom loves to go and was sequestered for a few weeks during a murder trial.

I wonder if the reason I haven't been called yet is that I was a victim of crime 2 years ago. My office was robbed twice by the same guy in two months.

Usually if you are a victim of crime they won't pick you.
 

jujubee

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I've been summoned twice! I lived in a real small town, the first time I appeared and we were going thru the jury selection process. It was for a drunk driving case, the woman plead 'not guilty' beleive or not. We were asked basic questions as a group, then they started weeding us out by asking such things as, do you know any one that's been arrested for this, have you ever been, etc. to try to determine who may have a predisposition. The people who said yes to that predisposition got to go into a room with the attorney's to explain. I told them i already felt she was quilty, you either are or you are not, How can you get pulled over and fail the sobriety tests and be not guilty??
So they dismissed me!!
The second time, I had moved out of state so i just told them that.
 

salemwitchchild

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Personally I feel very strongly that if you make up excuses and all you do is complain that your time is being wasted then you have no reason to complain about crime going on. This is part of the process. Like it or not this is how the bad guys are put away. So everyone has a duty to serve when called.
 

lakeriedog

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My husband and I get a summons just about once every two years. Because of my job, I am always disqualified so it is a big waste of time for me. I just bring a book and lots of candy.
 

zissou'smom

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I got summoned but I had moved a few hundred miles from the last address they had so I got out of it, would have had to do it in Cleveland over winter break! But somehow it seems like I should be expecting one shortly... I don't know, I would love to be on a jury but I don't think they would pick me.
 

bonnie1965

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I think it really depends on the case and the type of jurors the attorneys are looking for. For me, I was on a jury for an insurance case. The fact that I was in my late 30s (at the time) and enjoyed crafts is what got me chosen. One of the people suing was into crafts and about my age. If it had been a criminal case, I may not have been chosen. (hope all that made sense!)
 

carolpetunia

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The first time I got a summons, I was number 30 out of 200 people lined up on hard wooden benches to be questioned by the attorneys. They didn't tell us anything about the case, but the questions were all about debts and repayment. And it was very clear that they were wording their questions with great care, to be sure they elicited the answers they wanted -- no more, and no less.

Time and again, the first attorney asked, "Now, have you yourself ever had a debt? And did you repay that debt?" And everyone answered Yes, of course, because the "right" answer was obvious.

But I've always been very alert to shades of meaning, so when he got to me, I didn't give the "right" answer -- I gave the true answer.

"Good morning, Miss, thank you so much for giving us your time today, we all appreciate your cooperation in the judicial system that makes our country great, now, if I may, I'd like to ask you, Miss -- have you ever had a debt?"

"Yes."

"And did you repay that debt?"

"In some cases."

This brought him up short, but he recovered quickly. "Now, we are speaking here only of past debts, not any current debts you may have. We are speaking of debts that have been... laid to rest, shall we say."

"Okay."

"So speaking of those past debts only, have you repaid those debts?"

"In some cases," I said again.

The opposing attorney had been shuffling papers, but now he looked around at me, then glanced at the other attorney, who was looking very unhappy with me.

I understood what was happening: the attorney doing the questioning was attempting to establish a foregone conclusion in the minds of the jurors before they were even selected -- he wanted the jurors to enter the trial with the premise in mind that decent people pay their debts -- ergo, his client should win.

After a moment, the attorney said, "All right then, Miss, let me just ask you, in general, as a rule, would you say that in your opinion, people ought to pay their debts?"

And I said, "If the debts are legitimate, yes."

The guy just collapsed. His head dropped, his shoulders sagged, all the starch went right out of him -- and the opposing attorney over at the table clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh... because I had just introduced his client's defense for him. As far as that poor prosecuting attorney was concerned, in raising the question of whether the debt was legitimate, I'd unwittingly poisoned the whole jury pool.

Needless to say, I was dismissed.
 
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