Federal jury duty

[mjeff87]

 Federal jury duty

Anyone ever have to serve on a Federal court jury (petit, not grand)? I got fingered out and selected. Have to call a number after 6:00 PM tonight and get my reporting instructions. I've been reading up on it, and it looks like the service term is up to 2-3 months. From what I gather, you call and are told you either have to report at such-and-such a time, or not. If you don't have to report, you have to keep calling the number back (every day?) to find out for the next day, and so on. If that's the case, that just plain sucks. I'd rather be selected for a jury pool right off the bat and get it over with than have to play the call-in game every night for the next 60-90 days. The wife and I had plans to travel out of state next week to visit aging (like, in their mid-80's) relatives.....can't really do that now, either way. I don't mind my civic obligation one little bit, but there's got to be a better system than what I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be. Anyone been there/done that who can offer any insight/advice?
Thanks,
Jeff

edit: and coincidentally, I just got a selection letter in the mail from my county, to be a juror. How conveniently they list that "having served on a Federal jury is not an excuse from county jury duty". It'd be really funny for me to be selected by BOTH systems at once.....I want to see how that one plays out.

[Eagle]

There's a difference between "having served" (past tense) and "serving" (present tense). I would contact your county and let them know that you are currently on call for federal jury duty and request to be excused from county jury duty for that reason.

 

[MiNi Beast]

or just go and have fun with the responsibility of someones life.  

[Ωhm]

Not sure if this applies to you, but search for "one day one trial system". I know things differ from federal to each state to each county to each city, etc etc.

[Dzimm]

I've gone through county twice.  Once didn't have to show and once showed up for two days, sat there for half the day and got excused.  I'd imagine federal is going to operate similarly.

 

Basically they have many times as many people they actually need "on call".  Reason for this is that cases may not actually happen.  There can be any number of reasons for a trial to be cancelled right up to when it's about to start.  If you get told to report, you will show up and meet in a room with a whole bunch of other potential jurors (around 100 people when I went, and cancelled trials is why I was excused).  Not sure how this will work with Covid.

 

You sit in this room and wait.  At some point they will bring everyone into an empty courtroom and give you a quick run through of how the system works and then send you back to wait.  After a bit someone will come in, rattle off names and those people are instructed to follow.  This will happen a couple times for the various hearings happening that day.  If you get called, you go and follow instructions.  If you don't get called, around lunchtime they will dismiss you with further instructions.  (We were instructed to return the next day until the end of the week, which is when we were dismissed).

 

In your case, I would call the county and explain you are also going through federal at the same time.  They will likely push your county duty back, they will not cancel it, just put you in a pool in the near future.  (In college I was selected for jury duty back home, several counties over.  I called and they simply moved my term for Christmas when I'd be back on break.  Before Christmas break I moved into a house near school and changed my permanent address.  I was then selected in my new county within a few months).  Basically they will find you!

 

The verbiage about "serving a jury" has to do if you actually sit in on a trial.  I know for county, if you serve as a juror through an actual trial, you cannot be selected again for I think a year.  If you had served in the past year, you'd call and be dismissed immediately.  It sounds like you can however serve federal and county in the same year.

 

Check with your employer and see what they do for jury duty.  They will want to know asap anyway.  My employer paid out during jury duty plus you get paid for jury duty by the county.  Was nice to get paid to sit around and do nothing all week.

 

 

[BeatCJ]

I was called up for federal Jury duty years ago, had to go to the courthouse. A product liability case. When I knew what mesothelioma was, I was excused in the first round. The more you know, the better off you are.

 

After that, I didn't have to call in any more.

Edited October 10, 2020 by BeatCJ
Un Autocorrect

[amsuco]

The first thing that ANY prospective juror should do is to educate themselves.  I've been supporting the Fully Informed Jury Association for about thirty years.  The legal system is more screwed up than you can probably even imagine.  Jurors hold a lot more power than they are led to believe.  And the powers that be aim to keep it that way!

 

www.fija.org