I was just summoned for Jury service in June.....

[brooklynite]

We appear to be returning to normal.

[BigmanPigman]

1. I got a notice and it said Covid will change things slightly.

They said not to come in and wait to see if called for a jury but do it by phone each day. If you are chosen safety precautions have been put into place.

[happybird]

2. Saw a parking lot carnival tonight

It surprised the heck out of me. Then I thought, “a sure sign we are returning to normal.”

It was a very fancy looking carnival, way better than the ones I remember from when I was young. That being said, there’s no way in hell I’d go to one of those yet, or take my kids (if I had any). It’s still too soon, imho.

[SoCalDavidS]

6. Those Parking Lot Carnivals Are Not Very Safe, Even Without Covid nt

[csziggy]

3. Yep - I was called for jury service a couple of weeks ago

I wasn't in the jury pool that went through voir dire, but everyone that was called had to hang around the court house until the jury and the alternates were picked, just in case.

I had to show up at 7:45 AM (middle of the night for me since I generally go to sleep around 2 AM and get up at 10 or so) and we weren't let loose until lunch time. Got a hole $15 for that.

This will probably be the last time I have to show up. It will be at least a year before they can call me again. By then I will be over 70 and can have them permanently remove me from the list. I've been on two juries, been called now three times for local, twice for federal so I feel as though I've done my duty.

[orleans]

11. you sure have done your duty.

i've been called up two or three times but never got on a jury.

one case was a drug bust. when i was asked if i could be fair and impartial i said something to the effect of "i don't know--probably not." why? because i've been driving a friend of mine for his court appearances and he was arrested for possession even tho the drugs belonged to his friend in the passenger seat. what court is he in? this one. who is the judge? you are.

lol

i remember it was still a long day--they all were.

[csziggy]

21. Yeah, the first jury was a breeze, the second not so much

First jury, we never made it into the courtroom. We sat in the jury room for hours, then the clerk came in to explain what had happened. A woman had been pulled for speeding many times, lost her license, still drove and sped, got pulled for driving 60 in a school zone, and the prosecutor decided to charge her criminally since she would not learn her lesson. Once she was hauled into court, she freaked and plead out. But it wasted court time, and all the jurors' time - and of course all the costs involved. I never found out what the sentence was but the court clerk was completely disgusted.

The second was horrific - a man bit off a woman's lip. We had to see the pictures of her injury, she testified and even with several plastic surgeries, it was clear she would always be scarred with limited use of her lower lip. The case itself was pretty easy - the defense stipulated that he had done pretty much every thing. The one point still in contention, we found him guilty of. That was a long hard day and the case still haunts me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Hooray!

I've had jury service all of once in my life, and was eventually excused because we had a vacation planned and already had the plane tickets purchased.

I'm quite annoyed that I have never served on a jury. Sigh.

On the other hand, I know some people who never registered to vote for fear they'd be summoned for jury duty, which is incredibly mind-boggling. Jury duty? Maybe once or twice? Versus voting every two years, or even more often? I know what I'd choose.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. I had coworkers proclaim they wouldn't register to vote...

... because they didn't want jury duty.

I believed that COMMON myth for years, but it didn't dissuade me from voting!

I later learned it wasn't even true, at least in Ohio. They use other databases for random jury notices!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. More to the point, the chances of being called up for jury duty

are far less than the opportunities to vote.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

13. Agreed.

I get summoned about once every couple years, though, so that's been more frequent than my voting since I had periods of only doing it every four years.

Yet I almost never needed to appear after calling for daily updates about my jury pool. When I had to appear at the courthouse, which weirdly seemed to only happen when my employer really needed me at work, I was never selected for the jury.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. I have been called for jury duty all of once in my

semi long life. I'm 72. Around 25 years ago I was called to jury duty, showed up diligently, and sat through an entire day of voire dire. Fascinating. And then once the 12 regular jurors were seated, they started selecting the alternates. I was still in the pool. Finally I was called, and I was finally able to tell the judge that we had a family vacation planned, plane tickets already purchased, and I was immediately dismissed.

On one hand, I found the entire process quite fascinating. On the other, why couldn't people like me have been eliminated early on?

I would love to serve on a jury, but that was the only time I was ever called. Which somewhat proves the fear of being called for jury duty to be bullshit.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

18. It might depend on where you live.

Last edited Sat May 15, 2021, 05:13 AM - Edit history (1)

When you say "called", does that mean the only time you had to appear at the court as a prospective juror? Or has it been that many years since you even received a summons?

I've received a summons in the mail about once every two years. Sometimes every year, sometimes less often.

I live in the suburbs of a city with a high crime rate, though.

I've rarely had to appear in court. There's a call-in number that must be called every day for a week or more, to receive further instructions such as the need to appear in person. Most of the time, the period ends without me needing to show up.

I've had to personally appear at the courthouse only on three occasions. I thought that I'd finally get selected for jury duty the last time, but then one of the lawyers asked who had educations in science or mathematics. Me and a couple other people raised our hands, and we were dismissed.

Here's the supposed statistics about it:
https://www.mackenziehughes.com/blog/ive-been-summoned-for-jury-duty-now-what/

According to the Pew Research survey cited above, only about 15% of American adults receive a jury summons each year. Among those individuals, only 5% actually make it to a jury box."

In my case, the annual summons chances are about 50%. It might be due to the high crime rate in this area.

Edit: I've had to actually appear at a courthouse about once every 12 years, on average, since I'm in my lower 50's.

Edit2: My nearby city, Dayton OH, is supposedly 7th in the country for highest murder rates. Higher than Chicago too, for example.
All types of crimes are higher than normal around here.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/en/us-city-rankings/murder-rate-by-city

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. That was the only summons I have ever gotten.

You'd think that in some fifty years I'd have gotten a summons more often.

My sister used to live in Washington, DC, and got jury duty often, simply because there are so many trials there.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. My brother in Rockland County and I in NJ are in June too. My Jury selection is via Skype.

.

My brother doesn't think NY will have the precautions NJ does.

If I am selected and go in, it's masks and 6-feet social distancing.

.

[greytdemocrat]

8. That is positive. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

9. Funny, so was I here in Boston.

8am on Monday, June 7th. Ugh! I hate Monday mornings and 8am is way too early for me. I am going to see if I change it to later in the month/week.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. Oh, dear.

I don't get up before 9 am most days, so perhaps I should stop hoping I'd get called for jury duty, because I'd have to get up many hours earlier than usual to show up.

These days, when scheduling appointments of any kind, I simply tell the schedule person that I don't do mornings. It's quite nice.

I have recently volunteered to drive someone who needs rides, and happily learned he's like me. Doesn't do mornings. Life is good.

[smirkymonkey]

19. I really wish I could retire, but I have years to go before that happens.

Even 9am is too early for me most of the time. Now that I am working from home, I pretty much hit "snooze" until about 8:50am and then just roll over and turn on my work laptop. I'm not really "with it" until about 11am.

It's a curse being a night person in a world of morning people. I also have a really messed up sleep cycle. A lot of times I just can't get to sleep earlier than 2am, if I even get to sleep at all. At least on weekends I can sleep in, but it's rough during the week.

[Journeyman]

12. When I was in college I tried to volunteer for jury duty . . .

I had the summer off, figured I could fulfill a civic duty.

They wouldn't take me. Said they don't use "professional jurors."

I said, But isn't that to keep people from doing nothing but serving on juries? Retired people, unemployed, etc -- people looking to fill the hours of the day, or those who have a grudge or resentment to work off? I just want to volunteer for a juror summons. If I get on a case, great. If not, then I've fulfilled my civic responsibility. Think of this way: My being on this jury frees another, less available person from having to serve a turn, and if I'm called and accepted on a case, I'll have no reason to beg out. Win win. The only difference between me and the schlub next to me is, I volunteered he got called.

Nyet. Nada. No way.

And ever time since, when called I've had to beg out, for as an independent business owner there's no one I can get to cover my absence.

Screwy system we have.

[Tanuki]

14. My late mother was a school teacher. One year she was notified

that she was to serve on a federal jury at some point during a 3-month period which spanned late summer to early fall. She called and said fine, but as she was a teacher she hoped they could make sure and schedule her during the summer. Nope. As it turned out, her jury duty started on Day 2 of the new school year. She went ahead and served but felt as if they were almost going out of their way to be disagreeable.

[LeftInTX]

15. Local judges are having Zoom meeting regarding resumption of juries

And there is Fiesta!

It's super scaled down this year. We did not have it last year. It's gonna be hot too. All royalty were chosen in 2020. No Battle of the Flowers Parade.


MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE 2021
FIESTA SAN ANTONIO
June 17-27, 2021


https://fiestasanantonio.org/

https://fiestasanantonio.org/official-fiesta-event-calendar/



Cavaliers River Parade





Order of the Alamo



Rey Feo


Miss Fiesta



Charro Queen



Lulac La Reina de la Feria de los Flores



Queen of Soul

[tanyev]

20. *sigh* I lived in San Antonio late 80s-early 90s. Sure do miss it sometimes.