I have been notified via mail that I have been selected for jury duty in US district court. The courthouse is three hours away! I have several friends that in the past have been selected for the same jury duty and only one was excused as he had health concerns. I really can not afford to go with the price of gas and all. Plus the 40 cents per mile will not cover my expenses and even if it would the check is not mailed until two weeks after I serve! Since the jury summons came regular mail and I did not sign for it if I dont go how can they prove I ever got the summons? What would you guys and gals do? Advice needed.
Not sure.... what about looking for a phone number to call and tell them that you don't have access to a vehicle for the trip (yours is broken down).
Two choices. 1) Throw the summons into the round file. (that's what I do with those things) 2) Go, and when called tell them that you believe in "jury nullification". You will probably be excused. Why would you even want to be a part of their system anyway? AE
One of my friends that got called before tried that one- they told him Greyhound goes right by the court house, everyone tries that line my car is broke down etc... Thats why if I never call they will never know whether I got the summons or not. Once you call they know you received the summons.
Everyone on here complains about the laws in this country and how the Republic has faded to democracy. But when you get a chance to fight the system from within and judge the laws in which you say you dislike, you're not willing to lift one finger in which to do it. So stop complaining about the UNCONSITUTIONAL LAWS!!!!!!!! Someone please tell me why America is so screwed again, maybe it's because we have too many lazy Americans that aren't willing to lift a finger to help the Republic. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/zenger/nullification.html http://www.caught.net/juror.htm OGM
I'm 31 years old, and I've never even received a summons. I wouldn't mind serving, now that my schedule is pretty flexible. But I've come to the conclusion that I've been deemed unacceptable. They call for jury duty around here based on vehicle and voting registration. I'm registered as a libertarian, and I drive a '66 dodge van. In southern California, I think that makes me too far out of the norm to even be called in. They're probably right, by the way. I know that the jury system, NOT the supreme court, was intended to be the final test for constitutionality. All the evidence in the world can't make a man guilty of something he has the right to do.
OGM...... This is not a chance for him to change anything, you can't judge the law, you can only judge the person according to the judges instruction.
He cannot change it, but collectively the jury can nullify that particular law in that particular case. Tricky business.
I've been called to County Court jury duty twice - actually got on the jury once - til the lady shylock didn't like me greeting her on my way into the room after lunch - just being gentlemanly. Next thing I know, she's claiming I may have overheard "confidential discusion" with the perp . . . uh . . . defendant. Heck, I figured an open public hallway is NOT the place for intimate legal discussions. But that's just me . . . Got called for Federal Court once. Bught a $300 suit and other clothes so I'd look spiffy (and to follow the posted dress code!) - but most of the sheeple there were in shorts and T-shirts!! I figure the Judge was lucky they wore shoes. All went well, they were deciding who to choose for the main and alternate juries. Then, they ask if anyone was an NRA member . . . Did I mention this was a case of a Mideast person charged with buying guns here to sell in the ME? Like taking those coals to Newcastle, I figure. But, I'd have given a small anatomical unit to have been on that jury! It looked like it would be interesting, but not too long. They had two boxes of papers in evidence against him. I'd have given him the benefit of the doubt, and make the Gubmint prove their case. But - "Yes!" I answers - I get glares from both the defense and the prosecution! Then the judge asks if anyone is a 'gun collector'? Again, I answer truthfully, "Yes!" Angry glares from both sides again! They went to the Judge. The axe fell quickly . . . Judge proclaims, "Mr. Xxxxxxx, you are DISMISSED!" Seems they don't want anyone who actually knows the subject matter at hand . . . So, a day of work and a few hundred bucks down the tubes. Ah well, the coworkers got a surprise seeing me in the monkey suit - first time in 25 years I wore one, and it's been afew years and I haven't worn it since!
Horse shit. You obviously need to learn about "fully informed juries". The jury is the ULTIMATE arbiter of the facts AND the law. IF you believe a law is unjust, you as a juror, can vote NOT GUILTY until hell freezes over and you don't have to offer ANY reason for doing do....."they" can do nothing except re-try the case if they want. I'm in total agreement with goatman.....if you don't serve on a jury and don't do your part to tell the govt that their suckass laws won't fly, then you are truly a large part of the problem. Personally, I think many federal laws are unjust and need to be nullified......I'd crawl over rocks to a federal courthouse to serve on a jury.
Obviously, I do..... I've never served on a jury. I'll assume my position was wrong for now. But hell, if the guy can't afford to go, then He can't afford to go. I couldn't afford to drive 3 hrs, one way. I can barely afford gas to the next town.
I believe that serving on a jury is an honor and a privilege. How can I complain about a system - my system - if I'm not willing to do my part to make it a better place. Sure, I'm only one person. But so are you (and you... and you...). The six hours driving each day fuel cost might be better spent on a local motel (depending on your car's mileage). Serve well.
For all of you nay-sayers lets have a little history lesson. AMENDMENT XVIII Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919. Repealed by amendment 21. Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. Anybody ever read this Amendment? It was repealed by this one. AMENDMENT XXI Passed by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 5, 1933. Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. Why? Anybody want to take a stab at it? JURY NULLIFICATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep thats right the juries returned a not guilty verdict time and time again untill the prosicutors stopped taking cases to court. You can make a differance, the question is are you willing to make an effort?????? OGM Who will NEVER stop fighting for the REPBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!!!
Do they sequester juries anymore, seems they'd be putting folks up in a hotel near the court, pay for food etc...3 hour each way is (an epic journey)and unreasonable in my book. Of course the judge could consider it contempt in his book.
Sequester depends on the case......usually has to be a pretty BIG case that public talk might influence the outcome before they will sequester. I've served on local county juries several times, and never been sequestered. They did take us as a group for lunch to a local place......best we got out of it. And you CAN influence juries when you get back in "the room". I sat on one civil case where an old guy was suing the State of TN for 100,000 because they had widened the road in front of his place, and taken 1/10 of an acre of his land to widen out where one road met another ( making a turn lane to the right ). 100,000 grand he wanted.....for 1/10 of an acre.....and the fact he was just mad in general. State offered 800 bucks......for 1/10 of an acre of land where land was selling for 2,000/ac at that time.....so that was 4 times the value of his 1/10 ac.....not a bad deal in my book.....plus they did 10,000 worth of grade work cleaning up the creek property behind his place and re-sowing it in grass.....idiot actually brought "before" and "after" pictures which showed a jungle before, and a park after....idiot. His lawyer spent some length talking about this ole guy's store building and how people couldn't get "to the gas pump island now that the State had widened the road".....blah blah blah.....finally, he shows pictures of the "gas pump island"....little concrete curbed island of grass....no gas pumps....haven't been any gas pumps in 20 years, and the "store" has been a rental house for that long....ALL OF WHICH THE ORIGINAL IDIOT BUILT WAY TOO CLOSE TO THE EXISTING HWY RIGHT OF WAY, so he had nothing to even bitch about !!!! SO.....we spend 6 hours wasting time listening to this crap.....me, one other guy, and 10 women on the jury. We get back "in the room".....and these women start in about "ohhhh....this POOR OLD MAN....he has worried SO about this....How much should "we" "give" him ?" I stood up and said "Ya'll can vote for any amount you want....you can write him a personal check if you want......BUT HELL will freeze over solid before I vote to give the old fool one dime more than the 800 bucks the State offered to begin with, and I'm really inclined to vote for ZERO, since this fool trial has cost at LEAST that much". 10 minutes later, he got 800 bucks. Point is, when some people are spending tax money, just like politicians, they can be very generous with YOUR money. You need to be there to 'bring 'em back to reality'.
While in Iraq, I got a jury notification and told the wife to throw it away, then I got a notice that I hadn't replied to the notice, told her to throw it away. Then I got a sternly worded notice that I had been notified, and then some other jibberish that it was my duty and blah blah blah. I told the wife to send it in and add a note that I would need a letter to my commander to excuse me from service to come and execute this jury summons and mail it to me in Balad Iraq. The wife got a pleasent note telling her I was excused. Might try that, it worked for me, I would have given anything to take a month long vacation back in the states to sit in a jury box as opposed to
i just tell them the truth , i'm an over the road truck driver and i'm never home, never sat on one jury , even though i would like to
I havent had the oprotunity to serve on a jury but would be glad to do so. As stated the judges instruction dont mean squat, jury nulification is the law of the land and if the law is unjust or dont apply in the case 1 person can prevent a person from going to prison over an unjust law or unjust application of it andmight be able to send a person who needs it to prison. If you cant afford the drive and cant afford the Grey hound ticket then I would say call them and request assistance with transportation, if you just dont want to do your small part to fix things then you'll just have to figure it out on your own but telling them you want to and know you can would likely do it.
