The Buckets by Greg Cravens for April 01, 2014

It is different where I live – if you got this far by showing up, you can only be excused from a particular trial, not jury duty. We get a form when called to explain why we may wish to be excused, if you do not get exempted, you have to show everyday till your time is served.

Depends on the court here – county, feds – at least 2 levels, etc. Some require that you call every night and report to the court house only if told to do so; others you go every day; another you call on the weekend and they tell you yes or no for the entire week.

Luckily for me, the one that would have required an hour drive in January with all its unpredictable road conditions and darkness at both ends of the day(I hate freeway driving for the most part), was the latter and I did not have to report in person at all. Just made 2 phone calls and was done.

I don’t open it, I don’t acknowledge it! With our mail people they can never prove I received it.

I’ve always thought it would be interesting to serve on a jury. Only time I got a summons, I was homeschooling and was excused because I couldn’t bring my kids with me to observe. I thought it would have been a great civics lesson.

Sorry sir.

I never got to serve. My daughter was a criminal defense lawyer and I was a Christian, so nobody wanted me on their jury. I thought it would be interesting. And now my hearing is too defective. Alas, alas.

I’ve served on two trials and on Grand Jury. It was all interesting and in one case, satisfying; we turned one guy loose who deserved it. Of course, he was still bankrupt and his life was ruined…

Who is that man with the long nose in the photograph?

xxx

I served on a criminal case involving sexual assault of a minor girl. Prospective jurors who got excused were law enforcement, jailers at a nearby state prison, and one guy who insisted that ‘if there is smoke, then there must be fire’ to a child crying foul. I read somewhere of one man who got excused by claiming ‘the criminal system is rigged because the case will be won by whoever pays the most for his lawyer’. There is an old English jurisprudence saying, ‘justice is like a hotel room at the Ritz, if you can afford it, you’ll get justice’. After the judge deemed nineteen people acceptable, then each side votes three potential jurors off the jury box to arrive at thirteen jurors hearing the case. The defense lawyer bounced three women with his choices. Just before deliberations, one juror of the thirteen is chosen by lottery and goes home, to arrive at ‘twelve jurors of your peers’ making the determination.

I’ve had 2 summonses for jury duty. The first time, I got called in 3 times and seated twice. Murder trial and civil trial. Both lasted a week. Last time, I only had to go in once and didn’t get seated. For me, the big problem is I work in a medical office. So, if there’s even a CHANCE I might have to report, I can’t schedule patients (they hate being called on short notice and cancelled). My city won’t tell you if you need to report until after 5 the day before. If I didn’t have to go in, I spent the morning filling up the afternoon with patients. The times the trials lasted, a bunch of folks had to be rescheduled.

I also get requests from patients for jury duty excuses due to hearing. If someone has a significant loss, I’m happy to write the letter. If they only have a minimal or mild loss, I won’t do it.

Here in the U.S., we have a nice ‘Bill of Rights’. The Founding Fathers didn’t load us with a ‘Bill of Responsibilities’, but they did figure we could be on juries. I try not to complain, and, let’s face it, I get some cartoons out of it, too.

This strip comes right before Ozy and Millie in my comics lineup in which Ozy’s dad is summoned to jury duty.

- start off with the brown envelope with the blue sheet of paper in your mailbox..- send in your written reasons why you can’t attend. - ignore the blue paper and the sheriff will be knocking at your door. Oh and if you think saying it didn’t arrive in the mail? The govt deems any mail they send to be received by you after 4 days. Max. Don’t argue. Especially if you haven’t moved.- show up on the appointed day. And for the next 30 days – the courts have you until you are placed on a jury.They will tell you when to come to court for selection. Or until something else comes up that excuses you.

.Like going into labour. Heard that story. Scheduled vacation doesn’t really work, unless you’re already on the vacation outside there, somewhere. Or, being on Employment Insurance. EI doesn’t consider jury duty as ‘looking for work’ or actually working (despite being paid a stipend by the judicial system). And being on EI gets you out of jury duty.

I’m exempt from all jury duties in my county (due to documented “Technical Difficulties in the Brain Pan”).