Originally Posted by
Nuthatch
This is for the pilots who come and go a lot for work..
Who has been summoned, and how did it work? Did you get out of it because of your schedule? Did you request time off for it? I am from New Mexico and just got summoned, and term of service in my area is 10 weeks, mid-June to end of August. I just don't know how that is going to happen. I am not against serving, but am based overseas and gone for 6 weeks at a time. Even if I get excused for the parts I am scheduled to be gone, planning time at home catching up from being gone is going to be a serious challenge. I realize it is different for every state, or even county or district, but just would like to hear how you guys handled it. My previous experience, I was called twice when I lived in a different state and serving wasn't a problem. I was excused after a few hours both times.
I was summoned and the judge addressed this specifically in his brief. You will NOT be dismissed because of your occupation or lack thereof. Teachers were trying it as were sole proprietor business owners.
The judges reasoning was that it needs to be a jury of your peers to be a fair system. If the only people that accept jury duty were retirees looking for something to do, it wouldn’t be a cross section of our population. You can almost always defer, but it’s kicking the can down the road.
I went for 3 days worth of selections. The judge was upfront for each one and I believe the longest he expected any trial to last was around 1-2 weeks. Most would end up being 2-4 days or so. In the end I was selected as a potential juror for one and was dismissed. The reason being it was a “slip and fall” case on ice in public outside a business. I told the judge I didn’t believe I could remain fair and impartial due to my initial judgment of the type of case. I was promptly dismissed. A few long but easy days and I was prepared to do my job if needed. Bonus is they paid me something like $13 a day.