Good lord you have to go to jury duty for a week??? I went a few weeks ago in CT, but it was only for the day. I got picked in a group for a trial, but they told us it was a 4 week criminal trial and almost everybody had a “time conflict.” We were brought in one by one and asked what our conflict was, and I said I was supposed to go back to work during the trial, and I was excused. I had to stick around for the rest of the day, but that was it. And I’m off the hook for 3 years!
[QUOTE=coldduck;48460] if you live in Mobile be aware.:mad::mad::mad::mad:[/QUOTE]
I didn’t have any problem. See post #13.
Well the worst Jury Duty story I have heard happened to a friend of mine. She was called for a Federal Jury in 2003. She worked about 15 minutes from the court and was seated on a grand jury for 2 years. Wound up losing 1-2 days a month of work as she had to go when they were called into session. Lucky for here here boss in the small office she worked at did not give here any problem and still paid her for the days.
Just call the Clerks office and tell them you no longer live in the State, but thanks for considering you. That should be good for a few years
[QUOTE=coldduck;47054]I work 28 and 14 in the gulf of mexico, and I am having an issue with jury duty. I have recieved a summons for jury duty two times in the past year. I have been able to get an exemption from duty, because of being scheduled to work offshore during the requested dates. Now I have recieved a third summons. I contacted the clerk and told her of my predicament. She moved the date back one month for me, so I could try work my schedule around it. She said that I was given a waiver two times already and that there would not be a third(she was actually really nice about this). The date I have been assigned is one day before I am scheduled to go back to the boat. As most of you know now is not a time to be asking for more time off or adjusting your shedule in the gulf of mexico! My question is does anyone out there have previous experience with this? Are there any exemptions for being a Merchant Mariner? I do not want to shirk my civil duty, but I also dont want to miss my crew change and risk being left home for a month or more![/QUOTE]
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[B]It depends on the state and county you live in. use Google to find the circut courts official website for the county you live in, most have easy to navigate websites with toll free #'s and FAQ’s.[/B]
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I have been Shanghai’d twice. I always ask for a postponement to a later date. I look at my work schedule, and pick a time when I will be home. I also look for Fridays, just before holidays, or just after. There seems to be a strange lack of court cases around three day weekends. Memorial day, July 4th, Labor Day, Columbus, Thanksgiving, Christmas. In my state you can pick up to one year away from the initial date. I am not sure, but I think you can pick a sooner date too.
This may not be of help, if you don’t know your work schedule though!
I’ve never met anyone who actually wanted to do jury duty. Everyone has some excuse or reason why their time is more valuable than the guy sitting next to them. Someone has got to do it. Sounds like you pulled an unlucky number and now just have to deal with it. As for calling elected officials to complain, let us know how that goes…On the bright side once this week is over with you shouldn’t have to worry about it for a long while.
Im bringing an old thread to the top, sorry. I got a summons for city jury duty in April. Im going to have the office type up a letter for me and see what happens. I was exempted last time (2008) so hopefully ill get exempted again. Mariners should defiantly be exempted we simply cant miss 1 day of work a week without serious hardships. Even if you work on a harbor tug like I do you never knew what dock you will end up at, then even if you end up where your car is the boat might have been called across the harbor when you are done, not to mention the way it would screw up you and the guy on the opposite watch’s sleep schedule.
IMO they should use retired seniors and people on welfare and unemployment. The rest of us need to go to work!
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They should exempt you. I once got one when I was in college. i forgot about it, then remembered the same day, drove down to the court house hours after most everyone left. The court clerks just smiled and laughed about it but marks me down and said I would be exempted and I wouldn’t get another one for a couple years.
The guys at gCaptain headquarters are pretty connected right? They must know a lobbyist or two. I smell a “No Jury Duty for U.S. Merchant Seamen” Constitutional Amendment coming on! Or at the very least something on the books that says that, even if it isn’t an amendment… Can we pool our resources and work on this please?
people on welfare and unemployment
Then that would really be a jury of their peers. Leave us hard working, law abiding people alone.
You just need to send in the hardship form requesting a different day or different location. In my state students can get a break for one day in their lifetime i think, something like that. State law is that your employer must pay you your full wages for the first 3 days, the state pays some crap like $50 a day afterwards. I had to go last week which happened to fall on my first day back; got my full pay and the company didn’t break my balls. Its the cost of doing business.
[QUOTE=skycowboy;48638]Just call the Clerks office and tell them you no longer live in the State, but thanks for considering you. That should be good for a few years[/QUOTE]
I’ve served on juries twice; it was fun. I have also gotten out of it several times.
This has worked for me several times. “I’m sorry, but I just moved out of state for my job.” I never needed a letter from an out of state employer, but I bet that would work well too: “This is to confirm that Mr. Smith is employed by us, here in New Orleans, LA.”
If you can find time, go ahead and serve on the jury. If you cannot find time, its easy to get out of it. I’ve never heard of anyone being arrested for failure to appear for jury duty.
I had the same summons to serve in Ocean County NJ and settled it with a phone call. Once you tell them you’re a professional mariner and can’t commit to any extended term of service without suffering dire financial consequences the clerk was able to release me from the obligation. I didn’t need the letter from my employer but that might change next time.
Here in Lake County Florida, you can be excused once. The next time called you have to show up. Also, you can not request a certain time period. The first time that I was called I told them that I worked 3 weeks on and 3 weeks off as a Merchant Marine and told them that I would volunteer during my time off but I was told that they Can Not do it that way, your name has to pop up in their system for them to call you.
I’m under subpeona to appear as a witness in a criminal case next week. The freaking subpeona appeared over a year after the original incident. I’m still at my shore job but what if I happened to be out at sea? They just expect everyone to put their lives on hold for a slow and inefficient system.
Well I would think being subpoenaed is a different matter. Although they can’t serve you if your at sea so there’s that.
Easiest way out of jury duty. Show up and when they start asking you questions one of the first will be “Do you have any preconceived notions about the case?” You answer, yes, he wouldn’t have been arrested if he wasn’t guilty. You’ll be out of the pool in a heartbeat!
Yeah I was thinking that as well. I called the court and they said as long as I check in on the weeks ill be off the boat and available they will release me while im on the boat. The girl said she made a note on my file, but im getting a note from work as well.
This still screws me up because I was planning on taking my license prep class and taking my 500NC test the first week of April. Now I cant plan anything because I might get called for a jury. Oh well I guess ill have to wait until May.
Register to vote at the last minute so the clerk doesn’t have you on potential juror pool list (voter registry). Then remove yourself after elections. My wife got called up twice so far and now she will not register to vote. She was ready to hang some child molester but the DA plea bargained it out. She hates our judicial system as it is a farce.The stipend she was paid didn’t pay for parking costs. I luckily own a house in another state so I will just “move” if summoned. I wrote a note the one time I was summoned and stated I would be out of the country at that time and couldn’t be in court. Never was called up again.