How Do I Get Out of Jury Duty?

Whether you're a law enforcement officer, military service member, have a busy career, work at home, or just aren't too keen on the courtroom, one day you'll find that jury duty summons in the mailbox. Jury duty is a matter of civic pride and working in the courtroom is part of our civic duty; however, oftentimes it conflicts with other important obligations. I'm one of those names that just seems to pop up all the time, and I've answered nearly two dozen summons and never once sat down in a courtroom. Here's the secrets to my success in getting out of jury duty both at home and abroad.

1. Selection. The first thing is to learn how jury members are selected. Consider getting it over with and you might be lucky enough to escape future summons. Look at your summons and write out concrete reasons why you shouldn't be considered. Be careful, you don't want to look like you're trying to avoid the jury box. Remember, you're required by law to serve, but they don't want criminals OR law enforcement officials as a general rule. Are you or a member of your immediate family working in a career related to Criminal Justice? My most effective tool is the simple fact that I have a background in law enforcement (US Army Military Police Specialist) and am married to a former police officer. Is there a family relative or room mate who's a lawyer? Perhaps you're a writer, or aspire to writing a book like John Grisham. There's a block on the form for giving reasons you might be excluded, so use it. Beware: You might think your job and/or household is important. Generally speaking, the judge doesn't.

2. Why did I get this summons? Approximately 19 states use a combination of voter registration and drivers license lists to get names for the jury pool. Personally, I think this is an unethical strategy, but if you can get by without voting or legally driving, you'll remove your name from the biggest jury pool lists used in America. Courts also look at tax rolls and other places where community members are listed. Do you pay your water or light bill? That's a public record that's added to the consideration list in some states. Research Wikipedia's description of Jury Selection for further background.

3. If I'm in the military, I don't have to serve.WRONG! This was the closest I ever came to getting selected, while I was stationed in Nebraska. Don't make my mistake. Keep your driver's license and voter registration back home. You're exempt while in military service IF you're working outside of that state. In Nebraska, I wanted to keep my expired Michigan license, so I went ahead and applied for a driver's license there. (That's not a legal thing to do, but the license was close to expiring and I had just returned from three years in Italy.) I ended up paying for this stupid idea by having to take a road test again, and then I flunked that! Eventually passing it on the second try, I got spanked again with a jury duty summons within the next year. Check with your commanding officer and they're authorize to declare you mission essential. Don't bank on it though, it looks good in the community if service members fulfill their duty and responsibilities as a citizen. You can also try to hop on the next deployment to the Middle East though. Personally, I think the jury duty would be a bit safer, if boring. I did request a postponement in my situation, due to a training school scheduled. By the time I was re-called, I simply took a few hours off work, filled out a form, made a phone call to find out the case was dismissed, and never heard from them again. After that stateside tour, I kept my Michigan drivers license and voted by absentee ballot.

4. "I forgot." After about two decades of living overseas and away from Michigan, we returned home. Every year or two, I'm greeted by a jury duty summons. Even my husband got one recently. We're both semi-retired and at home, we vote, drive, and own our home making us prime targets. The law enforcement experience and education (a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice) has usually excluded me, but even Warren had to call in one day, and he was a REAL cop in Florida! He forgot about making the required call and overslept, so I called in for him a couple hours later. This was enough of a pause to learn the case had been dropped. You can probably make this excuse once, but it's probably easier to just show up if they want you, at least at this stage of the game! The County Clerk's office was a bit upset he'd missed the call, even though the case itself was finished. Considering his age (65) and the fact he's partially deaf, they let it slide. We haven't received a summons for him since then.

5. Job Exemptions. Take a look at the Travis County Texas website, and there's actually a listing of certain jobs or duties that exclude people from service on a jury. We were stationed in Texas temporarily, we've lived there for several months at a time, I did a lot of military training schools there, plus it was home to one of the bases I'd likely end up serving one day. It's totally unfair, but all the bases seem to belong to Texas, while Michigan's been divested of pretty much everything other than Selfridge Field and a few outposts of tiny military units here and there. But the State of Texas does make it clear on specific exemptions. Be sure to seek out your own county and state websites and learn the specifics for yourself. If you end up in a higher level case, the rules often change. As an example, one of my good friends here in Upper Michigan told us about his wife being summoned to a jury duty spot way over in Marquette, Michigan! This is a good 3.5 hour drive from our homes, and she'd have been living there for at least a week, during the middle of January! Luckily, that case was settled before she was scheduled to report, but it really gave them a scare. As parents of young children, they were torn between their obligations as citizens and the inconvenience of having "Mom" gone for an unscheduled amount of time. Once selected, jurors must have EXTREME hardship to get off the panel.

In closing, I'd like to have readers consider the benefits of Jury Duty. It DOES give you an amazing opportunity to see the inner workings of our judicial system. It can move quickly, but most often there's a large amount of hurry up and wait, just like in the military. As an American citizen, it's your duty to serve on a jury, even when it's quite inconvenient and costs you money. I worked for about 6 months as a Court Security Officer down in Detroit, Michigan and the Federal Building. I had the opportunity to meet and shake hands with Rosa Parks, and other dignitaries. Mostly, we were there to screen people entering or leaving the building and its courtrooms. Before leaving to go on active duty in my "second career" as an Intelligence Officer in the US Air Force, my co-workers (all men) treated me to dinner at the restaurant on to of the famed Renaissance Center nearby. I met and lunched with some fascinating individuals and saw some intriguing court cases unfold. So give it a chance, and remember: once you get it over with and serve, you're out of the pool for awhile, too! Good luck!