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Post by monklady123 on May 18, 2016 10:50:33 GMT
Just curious about other people's experiences. I am in my 50s and have been registered to vote since I was 18 and have never been called for jury duty. Not once. I know other people who have been called practically every time they're eligible (i.e., if it's two years, or 18 months, or whatever, before you can be called again, they're called at that time). My dh has been called twice in the past, once in New York, and once in DC, but never in Virginia and we've lived here for 25 years. I've been registered to vote in Pennsylvania (from 18 to about 26 or so), then in DC (for maybe 5 years), and now in Virginia. None of those states, or the counties where I lived, have ever called me. I think it's weird, like I'm on someone's black list or something. Now you watch, I'll have jinxed myself by this thread and will be called next week.
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Post by KikiPea on May 18, 2016 10:54:55 GMT
Once, and I'll be 43 next month. After a full day of deliberation, they settled, so I did not have to sit on the jury.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 23:27:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 10:58:02 GMT
Once.
I was living in OK at the time (military) and had to send in a copy of my ex's orders to be excused. I also noted that I'm hearing impaired and have not been called since. With my aid, I can hear but I struggle with speeches, etc. I'd be worthless in a trial.
My sister was called once. She struggles with normal conversations more than i do. She noted she was hearing impaired as well and has not been called since.
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Post by melodyesch on May 18, 2016 11:03:05 GMT
I am 47 and have lived in St. Louis, Missouri for 15 years. I've been called 4 times. Once I postponed because of vacation, once I didn't get selected for the jury panel and twice I've had to serve on juries. One trial was one day long and one was 3 days. My DH has never been called since we've been married (14 years).
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SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,408
Location: Dallas Texas
Jun 26, 2014 12:16:22 GMT
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Post by SabrinaP on May 18, 2016 11:03:35 GMT
5 times.
I was called once for a Federal Jury, but only had to call in every afternoon for a month and never ended up having to report. I've been called twice to the local city court and didn't have to serve either times. I've been called 2 times to the county courthouse and never had to serve there either.
I would like to actually sit on a jury one of these times.
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Post by scrappysurfer on May 18, 2016 11:05:51 GMT
I've been called 3 times in the past 18 months, twice for federal duty and most recently for county.
The first two times I was excused with the random reduction of the jury pool, the 2nd time it happened the night before I was to appear.
I appeared just this past Monday for a week long service, we were all in the courtroom and the judge came out and announced that all cases had been resolved and that we were free to go. Whew!!
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Post by cmhs on May 18, 2016 11:07:32 GMT
Zero. I'm 53, been a registered voter forever and have never been called. DH has been called several times. I have friends who get called every time they are eligible.
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grinningcat
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,663
Jun 26, 2014 13:06:35 GMT
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Post by grinningcat on May 18, 2016 11:11:33 GMT
Never. I really really really want to be called, because I am so curious about the experience. I wonder if there is a way to make it happen or is it just luck?
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Post by Scrapbrat on May 18, 2016 11:13:39 GMT
In my lifetime, I've been called three times that I can remember. Pretty sure DH has been called twice, and older DS was called within a couple years of turning 18 and registering to vote.
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Post by dazeepetals on May 18, 2016 11:14:08 GMT
Twice, and I'm 35. First time was about 4 years ago. Got called and selected for Federal Grand Jury which was 1-3 days each month for 18 months! Not happy, but ended up enjoying the experience. I think with that much jury duty I should be exempt for the rest of my life.... Until I got a Jury Duty summons last month Funny thing, is my hubby got one also for 1 week after mine. So not random.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 23:27:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 11:15:07 GMT
I'm 54 and have been called 10-12 times. Ha Ha I've been in every courthouse in three counties in MA. I've never served -- I've been questioned by the attorneys and let go. I look at it as time to read a good book.
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Post by miominmio on May 18, 2016 11:23:45 GMT
I'm not in the US, but am chiming in anyway: once or twice a year since I registeret as a "co-judge". (In the first court "tingretten", two persons reside together with the appointed judge (and all three have one vote each), and on the next level "lagmannsretten" we either have a jury or the same system as in tingretten (with some modifications), the system used depends on whether it is a civilian case or not.) What I like about our system, is that, while in theory everyone can be chosen for this, in reality you have to volunteer for it.
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Post by paperaddictedpea on May 18, 2016 11:32:52 GMT
I'm in my 50's and I've been called three times. I wasn't selected for a jury the first two times but was the third time - the case ended in a mistrial after four days.
I got a jury questionnaire a couple of months back so I may be called again in the not too distant future.
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Post by woodysbetty on May 18, 2016 11:34:10 GMT
Just got my 3rd jury summons in 10 years, yesterday.....I must be randomly lucky!! LOL!!
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Post by mollycoddle on May 18, 2016 11:35:58 GMT
Three times.
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schizo319
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,030
Jun 28, 2014 0:26:58 GMT
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Post by schizo319 on May 18, 2016 11:42:22 GMT
Only once, in February of 2014. I sat on two juries - one for child porn/molestation and another for rape. In the first case, we had to actually watch a small snip of the videos found on the pedophile's computer (horrifying) - it was on Valentine's day - needless to say there was no celebration that year... On the plus side, I doubt I'll ever be selected for another jury - defense attorneys typically excuse anyone who's been on a jury that delivered a guilty verdict and we delivered two that week.
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Jili
Pearl Clutcher
SLPea
Posts: 4,366
Jun 26, 2014 1:26:48 GMT
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Post by Jili on May 18, 2016 11:44:39 GMT
Six times. I've been chosen for a jury once.
It's been awhile, so I should be getting called again soon.
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Post by anxiousmom on May 18, 2016 11:55:41 GMT
A few times, but never have been chosen for trial. Interesting side note: My brother got called up for the Casey Anthony trial. He made it through the first couple of rounds of questions before he was finally excused at the very end. We were all terrified that he would be on that jury-he is a smart, smart man, but at the time his kids were really young and he is so incredibly tender of heart we were worried how he would do with all the crime scene photos.
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on May 18, 2016 11:58:29 GMT
Called three times, served once. First time I was excused because I worked in a vet office and was the only employee. Second time I no longer lived in the area. Third time I served on a two day trial
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Post by arielsmom on May 18, 2016 12:02:28 GMT
Never called. Registered voter for 40+ years. Hubby is quite a bit older than me and has only been called 1x, never selected for a trial.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 23:27:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 12:02:46 GMT
I was called one time, for federal jury duty about 12 years ago and I've never been called since. The defendant ended up pleading guilty so we went home after a few hours.
It really makes me mad that I haven't been called since because I would LOVE to be able to do it.
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Post by just PEAchy on May 18, 2016 12:04:15 GMT
I've been called 3 times. The first time was federal court and I served on a jury. I missed a week of work. The 2nd time I was living in GA but my legal residence was IL (military) so I was excused. The 3rd time I was still living away but we had become residents of that state. DH was deployed, I had 3 young kids and no one to help out. Also the courthouse was an hour away. I asked for a deferment and it was granted. I haven't been called since, that was 4-5 years ago.
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Post by *KAS* on May 18, 2016 12:04:33 GMT
I've been registered to vote in GA for 19 years and received a summons twice. Once was several years ago, but called the night before and didn't have to report. The 2nd time was 2 summers ago. I went and was selected and sat there all day and went through questioning. I'm 100% sure I would have been picked for the jury based on the questions and the answers of the other jury people. But then the judge brought us all back at 4pm and said there was a court issue he was taking responsibility for, and therefore they couldn't go to trial so we were all dismissed.
It was a 3 year old DUI case. I don't know what the issue was, other than that I can't imagine they could have actually seated a jury out of who we had left. Maybe they had let everybody else go home and needed a bigger pool? No clue. It was supposed to last 2-3 days and I wish I could have done it just to see the process. But a jury of your peers can be a little scary! We had a (supposedly) former crack addict, a girl who 'hated cops' and was facing aggravated assault charges, etc. it was a crazy mix!
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Post by mimi3566 on May 18, 2016 12:07:20 GMT
I'm 57 and have received a summons 5/6 times....once in Rhode Island which I served on the jury and acquitted the person.
The other 4/5 times have been here in Florida...Orange County. All but 1 of those times was excused from the pool for them not needing anymore for the day.
The one time I served was on a murder case and we convicted the man...that was almost 3 years ago. It rocked me to the core having to do that and it still bothers me to this day. I know we did the right thing, because he was guilty, but it's never a good feeling to put a young man in prison for 45 years...no one wins.
I see a lot of peas saying they are registered voters and have never been called, but I think they changed the pool to licensed drivers vs. voters...at least in Orange County, FL, but I could be wrong. The point is if that is the criteria, then there are most likely more licensed drivers than voters which makes the odds even greater...that being said, I've been called a lot compared to some so I'm not so sure just how random it is.
Edited to add, that I received another summons just yesterday to call in the night before to see if I have to report at the end of June....
Also, I will add, that I think the process is interesting and other than the having to come to a decision part, I did enjoy the process and I think everyone (who are physically/mentally able to) should serve at least once as part of our civic duty.
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Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,790
Location: Kentucky
Jun 25, 2014 20:31:44 GMT
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Post by Kerri W on May 18, 2016 12:20:15 GMT
Once. Weeks after I moved to a new state. At the time I was a SAHM to three kids, living in an area where I quite literally did not know a soul and my DH traveled out of state during the week for work. I asked for a deferment and was told I needed to either "join a church to meet people or take an add out in the newspaper for a babysitter" by the clerk at the courthouse. I was frustrated and brought it to the peas and was raked over the coals and told to suck it up. Stating I *wanted* to serve and was excited about it, just would prefer to defer until I had a better grip on my surroundings and a support system in place made no difference and I was deemed horribly unAmerican. Lol
In the end DH seriously went to great lengths to reschedule work commitments and take vacation days to cover what was going on at home and I wasn't chosen. There's more to the fact that using his vacation was a problem for us in this particular instance but it's long. I would have been thrilled to serve but really wish it could have been deferred.
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Post by Meri-Lyn on May 18, 2016 12:26:22 GMT
Quite a few times. Just lucky, I guess. I think I've gotten summoned maybe 6 or 7 times? But I've only gone through voir dire twice, and was dismissed. (One of the advantages of being in a law enforcement family, I guess.) The other times; Twice, I asked for a deferment (tax season), once my number did not come up (you call the night before), so I didn't have to go, and once, when I was attending school out of the county.
I did get a Federal Grand Jury survey once, about 10 years ago, but I guess they didn't like my answers, as I never heard from them again.
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Post by melanell on May 18, 2016 12:34:53 GMT
(As a side note, they use driver licenses to cull names from here, not voter registrations.) I've been called 3 times. All 3 times I was excused. Here they do excuse you if you are the primary care-giver of a young child. In my case, however, it wasn't always just that I had a kid at home, but that other things were also happening. Once was while I was on bedrest, so unless they brought the trial to me, that wasn't going to happen. Once was during a time period in which I was struggling with depression and anxiety attacks. No one wants someone flipping out in the jury half way through the day, so I was excused again. Then years went by between that 2nd time and the 3rd. The 3rd time DS #2 was a newborn baby and I was nursing, and since that's a perfectly valid excuse here, I did ask to be excused. DS is in kindergarten now, and I haven't been called since. Now that I've said that, a summons will likely arrive in the mail today! Now, DH is summoned regularly. Probably every 2-3 years. And yet he's never served, either. He always calls the number the day before to see if they need him, and they never do. He's never even made it as far as to actually go to the courthouse.
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sueg
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,420
Location: Munich
Apr 12, 2016 12:51:01 GMT
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Post by sueg on May 18, 2016 12:37:09 GMT
I've only ever been called once, back when we were living in Australia. My youngest son was only a few months old and fully breastfed- he's 27 now - and I asked to be excused on that basis. Never heard back. A few years before that - before we had kids - DH was called and was chosen for a jury. Trial lasted 3 or 4 days. He was called again the year we left Australia - I guess our removal from the lists hadn't gone through. One of our sons filled out the form, using the POA he has, and Dh was excused.
I don't know how everything works here, but I'm not on the voting roll as I'm not a citizen, just a permanent resident at this point. Not that it would matter, as my German is nowhere near good enough to deal with a trial.
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RosieKat
Drama Llama
PeaJect #12
Posts: 5,538
Jun 25, 2014 19:28:04 GMT
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Post by RosieKat on May 18, 2016 12:39:45 GMT
I'm 44, I've been called 7 times. I know the first two times I was called in states I had already moved from. Once I served, two other times I was released, and two times I was exempt as the primary caregiver of children under 5 (or whatever the magic age was).
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marimoose
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,282
Jul 22, 2014 2:10:14 GMT
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Post by marimoose on May 18, 2016 12:45:00 GMT
I have been called 4 times, never served once. And I am scheduled again for the last day of this month. My first time called i was breast feeding and I asked for a deferral - that was 20 years ago. I was not registered to vote at that time, never had, so not sure if voter registration is how they select you. My younger son has already been called twice and he is 22. He went last week, sat and sat , then they came out and told him he was free to go as the spots were all filled. My dh and older daughter have each sat on a jury once. My older son was called a few years ago, was being interviewed and whatever his response was got him dismissed right away.
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