My daughter just
was selected for Jury duty and she was able to get out of it, because of the
distance she would have had to travel to get to court. Sure, we all want to do our
civic duty… serve our country… see to it that justice is served. However, being
called to jury duty can put a serious damper on your day.
It’s important to know that the courts usually turn
down requests to be excused from jury duty and I think this is a good thing. Nevertheless, on rare occasions,
you can slip by without ever sitting in on a case.
When you get your summons notice, check the date, and
refer to your calendar or planner to see if you have a legitimate reason to
defer jury duty. (Examples of legitimate reasons are things like you are
getting married on that date, have booked a vacation, are moving out of state, or
are due to have a baby.)
If your calendar is empty, think about other reasons,
you may be able to defer jury duty. For example, would reporting for jury duty
result in financial hardship? Maybe you are the primary caregiver to someone in
your house.
Once you have your excuse, either call the clerk of the
court or mail in your request (if your summons allows for it) and ask to defer
jury duty. You can help your case if you can offer an alternative day you can
appear as a juror.
If you are not given exemption, you will need to appear
in court on the day stated on your summons and then give reasons why you should
be allowed to defer jury duty.
If you are unable to get out of it, then you when you
show up, your next best hope will be to get yourself excused when you are
questioned as a possible juror on a case. (When a case requires a jury, a group
of potential jurors are sent in to be questioned by the attorneys for both
sides to see if you can be impartial).
