I have been called a few times since moving to Bergen County in the late 90s. Never actually sat on a jury but got dismissed once by the defense attorney (drug case in a school zone and I was the father of elementary aged children at the time). Another time when waiting for the afternoon session to begin the accused sat with the jurors, thus contaminating all of us and we were thanked for our service and dismissed.
OT: Ignoring jury duty summons
- Thread starter Plum Street
- Start date
Just got the card today for August. First time in a longtime. Being a small business owner, this really sucks, I'll have to shutdown for the 5 days. If it was just me, I don't care, but my guys will be losing out on that income for those 5 days. I'll plead my case but my guess, the Gov't will not give two sh*ts about my business or guys livelihood.
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You made my day. 👍 It's been so long since I got one of these. I forgot all the ins and outs.
If the above is not accurate, it’s very easy to have your obligation deferred to a later date (unless you’ve deferred numerous times). When I originally got my notice in February I called them and said I have some personal things going on and they let me postpone it until June.
I was a business owner for 28 years, and probably got about 4-5 jury summons during that time
I sent back that I was the sole proprietor and would have to close
During that time frame I never had to serve
Now is a different story
With everything computerized now it's tough to be able to talk to an actual person or figure out where to write in to. Eventually I'll figure it out, just have to keep trying. I'm sure my message left on the answering machine wasn't even listened to and just deleted.
Sorry misunderstood your post a bit
My point was, a business owner can get an exemption, better than a deferment, if he claims he would have to close in order to serve
I’m in Middlesex County and used the appropriate phone # from this list. I called first thing in the morning and had no problem reaching a real person. Jury Management Office Contact List
No problem - I was just indicating I had no knowledge whether that info was correct or not.
I'm in Monmouth and that's the number and ext. I used. It's not until August so will just keep trying or send an email stating my case.
I'm pretty sure government, in the form of elected officials, cares very much, in the abstract at least, about small businesses and people's economic well-being. If for no other reason that people doing well helps them get reelected. Caring specifically about each individual instance, however, would be overwhelming so I'd see that as understandably less common.
With the judicial branch, I think it's like cops. Most judges probably do care about people, but a few bad eggs always surface and get the attention. Judges, again like cops, due to the nature of their work, see so much bad behavior from so many people that it kind of poisons the well for people with legitimate cause to skip jury duty.
Anyway, it seems you are likely to be exempt from having to serve, which is good. See, your government loves you after all. 🙂
I agree with this as that was my experience. At the time I was doing contract/consulting work and this would have been a federal murder trial that was going to last a long time - an incarcerated gang leader had allegedly ordered the murder of a rival gang member. During the initial selection review, the judge asked anyone with a potential issue serving to approach the bench. I told him that I would have no pay during the entire length of service. He seemed a little surprised at first, but dismissed me immediately.
? I replied to the request to report as small business owner and was made to report to Freehold. Not sure that is an automatic exemption any more.
If you just say your a business owner, that is not good enough
If you claims hardship,your business would have to close while your in court, that is a reason for exemption
I.wonder if anything shows up if you are stopped for a moving violation while driving
Sure putting out a warrant makes perfect sense in today’s world. “ sir , we have warrant for your arrest out of the county. You did not answer for your jury duty summons.” Just part of reason why the world laughs at us… and they do.
I would respond to this thread but I don't want to jinx myself lol.
Yea. I said it would be detrimental. I ended up sitting at a table with 2 other business owners and a cop from Roselle. . None of us were dismissed early.
The way it used to work, there was a spot on the jury summons to write in a explanation
Why you cannot serve, and I would put in my situation and send it back
If you did not hear anything from the jury department after that, you can assume you were excused. I did receive an excused letter at times I believe
Things may be different now, it’s been a while
How does a cop not get dismissed ? Not saying there would be bias but a cop has too many instances where they would be conflicted.
Civil case? I can't believe a defense attorney would allow a cop to be seated for a criminal case.
He was as surprised as anyone. I watched an attorney (called to jury duty) argue with a court clerk explaining his situation. 10 minutes later he was summoned by the judge. 15 minutes later he was back sitting in the room.
Don’t think there are as many exclusions as there used to be.
This had to be during the pandemic when jurists were scarce. The actual system of calling and selecting someone is broken. To say it’s fair and arbitrary because “ it’s done by a computer” is not accurate. Someone in the Federal or State governments has the ability to feed information into a machine. Are they unbiased ? Are they aware of past times serving? Of course they are.
No this incident was around 2016/17. Third time being processed and my second time being summoned to freehold. First time in 2012 sat with a kid that just graduated Lehigh that was mining bitcoin. Said he was getting a coin every 5-7 days. Had around 20 bitcoin in a years time. Wonder what that kid is up to.
Not following you . Most of these cases are civil cases. The case be something like some drunk dude suing Rutgers because he slipped on ice outside the RAC.
Guess you haven’t served much jury duty…. I have served over 2 1/2 years ( 131 weeks in total) In over all the cases and jury pools ( all levels by the way) not one cop nor one attorney . Different in todays tainted system…
Last case I was on had an attorney- drug case with several police officers testifying so no police, obvioisly. Was maybe 3 years ago
Like I just said the current system has dramatically changed. Quite frankly if they corrected the system in place police officers and attorneys would be excused.
Why should a divorce lawyer or some guy that does wills and real estate closings be an excused from jury duty ? Enlighten me
If you want to live in a free society and have the right to be judged not by a king but by a jury of your peers, you need to be willing to serve. Even if it’s annoying.
There is a direct conflict of interest unintended perhaps but it does exist. Now you may not understand that Plum but there is a reason that it was not allowed. Civil cases , State cases and Federal as well . Think about this stat… you ‘re a stat guy right? The reason is embedded in the simple perception the majority of legal US citizens see it as an inconvenience. They did 50 tests ago… more so now. That would certainly change if they paid a fair days stipend for their time. $5 per or Federal $35-45 per diem is that worth your legend status? AI will fix the need for jury duty. More fairness and equal for all.
