Getting Out of Jury Duty the Legal Way

Getting out of jury duty can be easy. When you get a summons, and you want to avoid jury duty, read the summons. The jury summons will explain how to get a legal exemption or a temporary postponement from jury duty in your state. If they say "call this telephone number", call the number. If they have a web site, visit the site.

How Not to Get Out of Jury Duty
Do not try to get out of jury duty by tossing the summons in the trash and not showing up. I don't know about your state, but Arizona courts will give you a free ride from your house to the courthouse in a police car. You get a chance to explain to the judge why you didn't show up. Unless your excuse is a good one, involving medical records or police reports, the judge can fine you up to $500.

If you are in the pool of potential jurors for a trial that is expected to be lengthy, you will get a chance to explain why you can't serve. Going bankrupt because $12 a day juror's pay won't pay your mortgage during a 6-month trial is a valid excuse.

People Who Are Exempt from Jury Duty
Aside from the usual exemptions for the elderly, non-English speaking, and minors, some people are always exempt from jury duty. All they have to do is fill out the form and mail it back.

1 - Join the armed forces. Active duty military are exempt as are National Guard on active duty.
2 - Get jailed. Inmates are exempt.
3 - Get convicted of a felony. Felons lose many civil rights, such as the right to vote and the right to serve on juries. 4 - Be a cop. Law enforcement officers are exempt.
5 - Be deaf, blind, or otherwise medically unable to sit for hours in the jury box, and have a physician's note to prove it.

Reasons to Not Get Out of Jury Duty
If you want to be judged by a jury of your equals instead of bored housewives and unemployed bozos, don't try to get out of jury duty.

In many states, Arizona included, jury duty can take as little as half a day. If you show up and if you are not selected that day, you go home until the next summons. You will probably spend part of a morning bored out of your skull and be sent home. The chances that you will be locked up for weeks are slim. Most trials last less then 2 days.

Going Home Early from the Jury "Pool" or "Panel"

Although I don't get an automatic exemption, I have been bumped off many jury panels for reasons that were 100% legitimate. Under Arizona law, I went home that day with no further obligations until the next summons. It happens in the stage of jury selection where the prosecutors and the defense are trying to decide who to boot out of the panel.

1 - If you know the arresting officer, even because you were just on a double date, or the officer is a neighbor or his kid and your kid play together you are off the panel. Same goes for lawyers, judges, plaintiffs and defendants. If you can say "Hi, Fred" to anyone on the other side of the railing, they will send you home.

2 - Attend protests. If you have been "involved in an act of civil disobedience" the prosecutor doesn't want you even if you didn't get arrested. The drawback is that the defense might really want you on that jury.

3 - Take the time to answer all the questions on the jury questionnaire completely and accurately. I was excused from one panel because I was a landlord, from another because I had taken my landlord to court. My work as a substitute teacher bumped me from yet another panel.

Sources:
Arizona Superior Court: http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/JuryServices/GeneralInformation/faq.asp
Arizona Revised Statutes: http://www.azleg.gov/ars/21/00202.htm