(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

The following is taken verbatim from text messages between my mother and myself.

Mum: Guess who got a jury summons from the state of Texas?
Me: Oh that sucks!
Mum: YOU DID.
Me: OH NO
Mum: Seriously, you are due to report to the courthouse in two weeks.
Mum: I will be so glad to see you!
Me: Funny. Can you send it to me?
Mum: Tell them you hate Amazon.com and they'll let you off.
Mum: It's like hating America
Me: I'm an anarchist and a commie!
Mum: That's my boy. When you got a letter from the Sheriff's office I thought you'd gotten a ticket
Mum: Eating cupcakes in a no-cupcake zone
Me: I'm a rebel without a fork.
Mum: I'll bring you cookies in jail.

THANKS MUM.

Fortunately, in Austin at least, you can exempt yourself from jury duty online, and they accept "I do not live in Texas" as a valid excuse.

Comments

Jury summons

[thorinsmistress.livejournal.com]

*knocks on wood* I still haven't gotten one and I've been here over six years.

Re: Jury summons

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It's based on driver's license registration, so I understand. I really need to get an Illinois license, but I'm not sure I'd pass the driver's test.

[sherylyn]

I didn't know you could keep your license w/an out-of-state address ;-) But hey, whatever it takes to avoid jury duty ;-)

And your conversation w/your mum is priceless!!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Well, the license has my parents' address on it, they live in Texas.

Though I did once get a California DL with a Texas address on it, because the CA DMV is stupid. :D

[arsenicjade.livejournal.com]

....do you not have an IL driver's license? Alternately, are you not registered to vote in IL? B/c that's generally how they pull for those things.

[(Anonymous)]

In Illinois, at least, you can alternately use the last four digits of your social security number, although they may also require a bank statement or utility bill or something when you get to the polls, if you do it that way.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I'm registered to vote in IL, but my DL is Texas. Given I've never had a summons in Illinois, I can only assume both IL and TX pull from driver's licenses.

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

Those are just the conversations I'd like to have had with my own mom. Though to her credit I do think she too would've tried to bring me cookies in jail.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

Apologies for OT, but:

Whatever it is in your icon, it certainly is lovely!

[kit-maxel.livejournal.com]

I've gotten two jury summons and just kind of... forgot about them? And no one's said anything yet...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Uh, you may want to look into that. Generally the justice system doesn't look kindly on summons-jumping. It can result in arrests at inconvenient times -- if there's a warrant out for you for contempt of court, they may not come and arrest you but if you're pulled over for speeding and they run your license, they will take you in. I'm not sure HOW you'd look into it, but definitely you want to.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

Technically, you can be held in contempt of court for not answering the summons. They had a Municipal court judge in Wichita, KS a while back that got pissed about the no-shows for jury duty, and sent out warrants for contempt on over a hundred people that didn't show up. That was one day's worth. Don't know how many people they arrested. It was published on the news and said if you were one of them, you could come into the court and pay the fine, or wait & get arrested.

[cindala.livejournal.com]

I get called for Jury duty at least once a year. So far I've only had to go into the Courthouse once, and was dismissed because one judge called out sick and the other judge that needed jurors had a doctor's appointment that day or something so they decided to just dismiss all of us at lunch time and give us all a pass saying "time served" so we were let go 5 minutes before our lunch break. I have jury duty next week, so we'll see if I'm picked for a trial, I have a feeling that I won't be as I'm disabled, but at least I might have a day of sitting around in a different surrounding to break the monotony.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Once a year is pretty frequent, isn't it? I've been called twice in five years.

[momijizukamori]

This happened to my brother, only he lived in Montreal and the summons was for Massachusetts. Thankfully 'I do not live in the country' is also acceptable.

I've never had a summons, and I may be in the clear right now - I have a Canadian DL but I suspect temporary residents aren't allowed to sit on juries.

[kukkaseksi.livejournal.com]

I've been living in Finland for 12 years and I STILL get jury duty notices sent to my old address (which happens to be my mother's). My California driver's license expired 8 years ago, but it does not seem to matter. I have also informed them via both phone and mail that I not only do not reside in the county of Alameda but I do not even reside in the United States; but apparently they are really really desperate to get me to fulfill my civic duty.

[maeritrae.livejournal.com]

*waves*

[forest-rose.livejournal.com]

Jury service would be hell for you. There would be so much to blog about, and you wouldn't be allowed to.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

RIGHT? But I'd still kind of like to do it, just for the sake of having done it. Just...not in Texas.

[rednwhiterose.livejournal.com]

A college just recently got summoned for a grand jury. Apparently it's the same as a regular jury summons (at least in my state). She was not happy. It's a month long and she'll hear potential cases all day from 8-4, with an hour for lunch. She said the orientation was pretty intense and she's not looking forward to actually hearing cases, especially the ones involving kids.

[fiveforsilver]

A good friend of mine was on a grand jury a couple years ago. Over the course of the month, I watched him get more and more haggard and tired and sad. Apparently it was super stressful and upsetting and partway through one of the other jurors had some sort of nervous breakdown and had to be replaced by an alternate. What bothered him most were all the rape cases.

[minkrose]

It is possible to register your change of address with the jury duty people -- I've done that twice! I moved away from jury duty twice, it was very handy. I was called last month and since the courthouse was near my friends, I asked if I could crash with them the night before. I was actually looking forward to it and then it got canceled. I've had that happen twice, too.

I've been called five times in 10 years, and I've only had to show up once.

[rissabby.livejournal.com]

Your convo with your mom was great. She sounds wonderful.

I'd like to do jury duty, but I've never been called, and I'm over 50.

[rhyana.livejournal.com]

My mom received summons from Dallas county for twenty years.. She sent everything imaginable to them, but they summoned her every year until finally she found someone who took her off the list. Kaufman county, on the other hand, has only summoned her twice in thirty years.

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

I have never been summoned for jury duty, anywhere. Perhaps they already know. (I would bring you cookies in jail too.) :D

[maeritrae.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at this and the post with Awkward Coworker and trying to decide which one I want to comment on to say how much I love them both. :)

[joiedumonde.livejournal.com]

I am one of those rare people who actually want to do jury duty. When I turned 18 it was a tossup up which I was more excited about, the ability to vote or the possibility of jury duty.

Sadly the one time I got a summons I was forced to get out of it because I had to cover for someone at work who was going on vacation, and leaving us short staffed.

[immelmanturn.livejournal.com]

Dallas accepts that too, which is a relief. And I'm tempted by the Illinois license, if only because the redesigned Texas one is so hideous.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It really is the ugliest thing. Gaudy.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

I think I've mentioned before that I've worked in legal type stuff for nearly two decades. A former co-worker said one of his law professors (for torts class, no less) ended up getting summoned for a civil jury. Each of the attorneys bet on the other side recusing him, and he ended up on the jury. WORST MISTAKE EITHER ATTORNEY EVER MADE.