Not sure what the rate is but I have had 3 summons and been picked 0 times.

I’m exhausted I can’t take a Lapka doubling it up on me!

Has anyone just not answered a summons before? I have once in L.A. County and they are so overwhelmed here that they didn’t even try to follow up.

I did actually intend to go too. Unfortunately I wasn’t supposed to go in until like Thursday and then I got up earlier than usual, got distracted and went to work. I didn’t realize I had forgotten until noon at which point I said F it let’s see what happens maybe they will just re summon me. But I never heard from them after that.

I assume in smaller districts they have greater need for people and are more serious about getting you in to serve your civic duty

Last time I was summoned I thought I was a lock to get dismissed, but they ended up picking me. Was shocked I made it through voir dire, as I thought the PD was going to give me the boot. Turns out he probably should have because when we initially started deliberations, it was something like 8-4 for acquittal and a couple of us were able to convince the others to convict.

Not like we were some debating wizards, mostly that reading is hard and people conflate all kinds of things and then reach conclusions based on bad assumptions.

--

ETA: semi-related, and I should have written this back to the judge, but didn't. It seemed really odd that the case on which I sat included security camera footage where the detail was less than stellar based on the showing in the courtroom because of the lighting and the limitations of the projector they were using.

Once we were able to view the footage on a laptop in the jury room, a couple of details became much more clear. That seems like something both sides would want addressed, because I can totally see a situation where a jury might reach a conclusion based on their interpretation of the footage and not necessarily what was presented in court.

I have "forgotten" to show up for my last 2? 3? years worth of jury summons. Im sure a lot of those I didn't have to show up anyway because my group wasn't called in, but definitely not the smartest thing to do.
The ~3 years prior to that I just kept requesting a postponement due to young child requiring care at home, and before that I lucked out a bumch of times and wasn't required to go in when calling in the day of, so haven't actually been in a court house in like 10 years.

I'm just glad that stuffed animals never have the balls to ignore a summons.

Haven't seen ChipWrecked in forever. Hope he's doing ok, whatever he's up to.

I have never received a summons for jury duty.

Dids,

And you exercise your civilian privilege of voting?

Yes. Every year.


ETA: I am now in a new state. I just registered to vote when I got my new license. Will report if anything changes.

The one time I got called there was a case next door that got a deal made the morning of, so the jury pool came over to our case and we had a buttload of jurors to pick from. Just from the reading of the facts of the case I wanted to be on the jury so bad so I could find him not guilty. I woulda been a lousy juror.

Everything took so long we even went on lunch break, and this county seat is some little 3 traffic light town that I had no idea where to lunch. No fast food as far as I know. A few hours after lunch they finally chose their jury and I never even got a chance at bat.

Here are the two magic words to escape jury duty during voir dire: jury nullification

I got out of jury duty by not living in the country when I was summoned for it.

Didn't even have to show up.

Many/most states form jury pools from Driver's Licenses as well.
Know it. Love it.
I don't think I would ever convict on a drug charge sans guns or weapons.

I could also convict on a drug charge that involved distribution to minors. Otherwise no.

Chop ordered me to a particular restaurant in Amsterdam, where he apparently had some form of formative experience fifteen years ago. I am on my way there now.

He also told me to say “aju paraplu” to as many locals as I could. I was not fooled: it means something like “see you later alligator,” which is pretty clownish. Being a serious person, I must abstain.

It’s Pride Day in Amsterdam.

If anyone has magic words to get onto a jury, I'd appreciate hearing them. I'm 0-for-3 lifetime. The closest I got was the final peremptory challenge of a federal securities fraud case that was scheduled for a six-week trial. I think that would have been really interesting.

If you haven't sat and watched a trial, you're very likely underestimating how boring they can be. I enjoy participating as an advocate, but when I have to sit through proceedings that I'm uninvolved in, I think that most of them are absolute death, and I'm nerdy enough to generally enjoy legal minutiae that many wouldn't.

The only time I made it to voir dire it was the trial of a male prostitute who had been busted in a sting. The police had somebody undercover and were recording interactions then arresting the prostitute, like on Cops. In this guy's case, though, the equipment malfunctioned so it was his word against the cop's (this is all from me reading between the lines of the questions being asked).

During voir dire they asked if anyone would have a problem convicting someone based solely on eye-witness testimony. I raised my hand and said I might. The ADA asked if someone broke into my house and stole my wallet, wouldn't I want them to be convicted based on my testimony? And I was like "Wouldn't they also have my wallet though?" And then he said "What if they broke into your house and you hit them on the head?" And I said "But then wouldn't this random guy then be unconscious in my house?" The ADA was not very bright. Then he asked if I would be more or less likely to accept the eye-witness testimony of a cop, and I said it would depend on the situation but that I definitely do not believe that cops never lie. Then, another guy on the panel chimed in with a diatribe about how cops ALWAYS lie and they framed his cousin etc.

First guy to get kicked off was the "all cops always lie" guy, I was second to go.

Overall it really bothered me that there were like 50 people in this room for two days or whatever because this street hustler was trying to get some money for crack and some other guy wanted a blowjob. And all the time and money spent on the sting, and on incarcerating everybody. And how I thought that time and money could be put to much better use.

Same here, had to send in some document and then I was never summoned again. Never being summoned again might be a coincidence though.

"Yes, I understand"
"Yes, I can do that"
"No, I have no problems with that"



As I already told you, it means "goodbye, umbrella!" and is the dutch rhyming version of “see you later alligator”. It is awesome and I have a 100% success rate of Dutch people loving me say it. If you are too serious a person to be awesome, I'm sorry to hear you have a case of the fear and all I have to say to you is: Helaas pindakaas!






One sweet way to get out of jury duty is to call the clerk's office and tell them you are calling to be excused from your jury duty summons. When they ask you why, tell them that you are in New Zealand. When they say they will reschedule you and ask when you will be back, say you have no idea. If you are a lucky lucksack, you may then be told "OK, I'm just going to take you off the list permanently".

Helaas pindakaas, hilarious expression.

Aju paraplu, clownesk expression that lost the meaning of See you later alligator twenty years ago, and now more or less means ‘I didn’t think so.’

That said, would 100% laugh if someone said it, while at the same time thinking that person got screwed by a fellow Dutchmen into believing it was a normal greeting.

I’m obviously trusting GM over Chop on all things Dutch.

I understand your point. I have a lot of experience with ADR as an advocate, represented party, and pro se, but I've never first-chaired a trial. I'd like to someday, so sometime in the next couple of years I plan to take a case from the local public defender's office.

I think I'd feel very involved as a juror and I think I'd enjoy the experience, but hopefully time will tell.

Random related note: I've watched lots of arraignments and I find those to be delightful entertainment, especially on a Saturday morning at DC Superior Court.

On the way to the pancake house, I got distracted by a rave:

Note the gentleman in the dog mask:



Everyone was having a blast and 70 per cent were obviously rolling.

I was nowhere near the oldest dude there.