Jury Duty

I had jury duty last May. I even got picked for a jury. Was a boring case though. Some company was accusing another company of stealing files off their computer, so they were suing for damages. The process itself was pretty easy. A lot of waiting around though.

I had to go down to the courthouse where they gave me my badge. Then you and the other potential jurors (there was about 60-80 people there) sit around until they get you all together for the speech. Explain how much you make ($15 dollars a day for us), and ask if anyone wants to be excused for whatever reason. The first time they ask isn't the time to bring up the school thing. The first time is the people who can't be on the jury no matter what. If you served in the past 3 years, can't speak English, stuff like that. After that they showed us a video on jury duty.

Then the long wait begins. They randomly call numbers of about 20 people for jury selection. Go to a courtroom, and the judge explains the case. Asks if anyone has any problems. This is when you bring up the school issue. Then they do another lottery thing until they have the required number of jurors. And the lawyers go through the questioning process, and excuse any jurors they feel won't be impartial. Keep doing that until they get a full jury

If you don't make it through that you go back to the waiting room, and repeat it all day. Different places have different times, but for here you have to go back the next two days if you don't get picked.

I got selected first call on everything >.< First group picked to go to the courtroom, first potentials in the juror box. Interestingly I was the only guy in the jury, and the other women were quite a bit older than me. The jury duty itself is ridiculously boring. It's from 8-5 and if you get a case that was as boring as mine make sure you drink lots of coffee. The only good thing was we got an hour lunch. My trial was supposed to last two weeks, but luckily they settled out of court after 3 days.

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Out of curiosity - is this a federal exemption? As ina pplicable in all states? Because I had no idea I could get out of jury duty by claiming I am a fulltime student. Kickass.

It's not a definite exemption. It's at the judge's discretion. Most judge's will of course excuse though. If it's a serious case though, and you fit all other requirements, and the lawyers find you fit to serve then you will be forced to stay. That's why you can't be fired or kicked out of school for serving jury duty.

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