Dammit, Federal Jury Duty

And I was having such a pleasant day...

Anybody have any experience with this? What to expect? US District Court East Michigan in particular. I've never been summoned for anything besides local stuff, which I always got out of on the student clause, not taking anything this summer so that's right out. Will I be labeled a domestic terrorist/go to federal pound me in the ass prison for writing "Think for yourself and question authority" on the form?

It makes sense now that I think about it, but I didn't even know you could be called for federal jury duty. If you're not taking classes this summer I would report for it. Might be an interesting case. I've only been summoned for local duty 3 times and havent been picked once.

A lot depends on whether it is a trial jury or grand jury. Trial jury may only last a few days. Grand jury is a much longer term. My wife was summoned for federal grand jury duty a number of years ago. It was in Baltimore which is a 50 mile drive from home. She had to go once a month for 6 months and each session might be a day or 3.

Well they do claim to be paying me $40/day+mileage(probably higher than what it costs to run my car) that I probably wouldn't be making anyhow...

Where else can you get paid for doing nothing ?:evil

The only time I was called for jury duty, I found it interesting. while we waited for the lawyers to come to an agreement, the judge would relate a lot of legal stuff. Never came to trial.

I had a good time with jury duty for a county criminal case involving a shooting. It was very educational seeing how much different real life is from tv, how easy a good lawyer can plant reasonable doubt in at least one or two jurors inspite of evidence.

Everyone should sit on a jury once to get an idea of how the system really works. Having that point of view made it easier to understand how verdicts are reached that seem to baffle the mind of people following in the news.

A Guy that I used to work with was selected for a federal grand jury many years ago. It was a political corruption case, and it lasted close to two years. IIRC, it was on Wednesdays. Some times the guy would be there all day, other times he would be able to come to work in the afternoon.

That doesn't sound like much fun to me, but regular trial type jury duty doesn't sound all that bad.

TBH, if I were on trial, the people that I would want on my jury would be the kind of people that are often excused (people with something more important to do, and especially people who "Think for themselves and question authority")

It's a pain in the rear but if you were on trial would you want to be tried by only people too stupid to get out of it?

That's the way I always look at those summons.

I don't plan on trying to get out of it, having no legit excuses, I just hate getting roped into such things.

I'll regret admitting this but I've only been summoned for jury duty once in my life.

It was during Desert Storm and I was a medic in the worlds largest sandbox. My CO wasn't amused when I asked to go home for said civic duty.

IIRC I also got at least 5 notices to register with the selective service at around the same time.

I was summoned for Jury Duty once. The DA and I were both members of the same shooting club and knew each other pretty well. He saw me on the list and punted me post-haste.

Depends on the case, many of these never make it to trial even when a date has been set. Slightly different than serving for a local or state court. Last time I was called I had to check in for duty every Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm for a month, to see if the trial would commence the following Monday or there was a continuance or postponement for whatever reason. Case was finally settled via plea bargain, I never set foot in the federal courthouse.

The Feds do things quite differently. Fewer trial but more likely to last multiple days if it goes to court. The Big Time so to speak. Locally, we have cases set at least 5 deep on every day and depending on your cases listing in the lineup, you either go to trial or resolve it in some manner. Sometimes you get lucky and case #5 gets sent home with a new trial date. As stated before, you do want to look at the jury if you are ever on trial(civil or criminal) and see people who look and think more like you.

I never get picked, but I get full pay while on jury duty so I wouldn't exactly turn up my nose.

Fill out the questionnaire honestly. The whole system relies on impartial jurors. If you make it into the box, you'll have the opportunity to talk to the AUSA, defense and the judge and explain your answers. I think you'll find it to be one of the most interesting things you'll do. I would love to sit on a federal jury, civil or criminal. I'm pretty certain it'll never happen though.

For the Eastern District of Michigan, specifically, give yourself 30 minutes or so to get through security. The lines have been getting worse lately, and first thing in the morning can easily be 50 deep.

when I lived in Cape May County (farthest south you can go in NJ) I used to get pulled for Jury duty every 6 months (the minimal amount they can call you) and finally decided enough was enough when I got seated for a child molestation case. I was physically sick for a week after that 4 days (it stressed out my already fragile intestines). Ever since then, I have pulled the "I own a business" card (which I do) to get out of it.

It really used to peeve me that I would get called so often.. but my parents, sister, nor any of my friends ever got the card in the mail.

I will admit though, Federal sounds interesting

I have yet to get summoned for any of this.....

Chances are slim that you will serve if you go to the cattle call. I don't know how it works for Federal stuff, but I've been called for jury duty about a dozen times in two states and three different counties and only actually served once. That was a drunk driving case where some self-righteous ne'er-do-well insisted on his right to a jury trial-- he probably got worse from us than he would have if he had just pled guilty.

If the feds do it like they do in Texas, then it'll be a half day of education just to go to the cattle call. If they do it like they do in Illinois, then it will be sitting in a room catching up on your reading every day for a week.

Of course, if you get picked to serve, then who knows...

Generally, you'll get immediately bumped if you are in law enforcement or have a close relative that is. I've also heard the defense tries to bump everyone with a college degree, but I don't know if that's really the case.

Do it. It really is your civic duty.

i've only been summoned once, and it was for a county in which i no longer resided. that was about 12 years ago. i'd love to do it. perhaps one day i'll call the courthouse and see if they can tell me why i never get summoned.

I got sent a seven page form when we had a female judge that was going to start doing federal trials in my local town. The only question I remember is that they wanted to know what bumper stickers I had on my vehicles and what clubs I was a member of. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on renovations, she decided not to do them.

On the bright side, if it is a really crazy case you may be in for a book deal afterwards.

AngryCorvair wrote: i've only been summoned once, and it was for a county in which i no longer resided. that was about 12 years ago. i'd love to do it. perhaps one day i'll call the courthouse and see if they can tell me why i never get summoned.

Varies by state, but some jurisdictions do it by voter registration. Others will do it by driver's license databases. Once in my case, it was both-- I had just been dismissed from a selection from one summons and got another summons a week later. One from my voter registration file and the other off my driver's license. Since there is a rule that you should only receive no more than one summons every six months, I got the second one dismissed.

I have no idea how the Feds do it-- tax returns?

In reply to Basil Exposition:

Either that or Social Security records

apparently I cursed myself.. got a notice in the mail today for petit juror

I've never been called up for federal, but for the local stuff I had a sure-fire method to get out of it.

On swearing in, ask for the "secular alternative". Regardless of whether it's the lawyer for the prosecution or defense, one of them will ask, "Do you believe in a 'higer power'?" I say "No, sir.." and am immediately dissmissed.

Of course, if you do believe in god(s), it won't work. Don't pergure yourself just to get out of jury duty.