Jury duty

[deere755]

I have been summonds for jury duty begining May 4th thru the 15th. This could not be any worse timing except during harvest. We will still be planting and I will also be planting wildlife plots. Does anyone know if there is a way to get out of serving. I could always serve later in the summer. I am not sure what Illinois law is on this. Also there is a murder case coming up the 1st of May which really makes me nervous. Has anyone been able to get of serving because of there job before? Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Tororider]

I think you can defer for work hardship, at least I think you can in MI, my guess is there would be some way to do it. But you can only defer so many times. Good luck.

 

[RichZ]

In New York, if you own a business ( and a farm is a business) you can have it re-scheduled, if you get summoned at a time that will be damaging to your business. In fact, if your business is totally dependent on you, you can have it canceled. I imagine, all states are similar.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have had jury duty defferred by simply writing back that my work had me going across the country at the time for two weeks of training but would gladly serve at another time. They readily accomidated me. Take the time to call or write.

As far as getting off jury duty altogether, you can object to the cases on moral or other grounds and maybe slide by once the juries are all picked. Personally, I have served a number of times and find it to be an interesting experiance if not a duty.

I do understand your reluctance as well as any person who's situation will cause a hardship.

Way back when, I lived in NJ for awhile where I served on petit jury. Once a week for sixteen weeks listening to the charges, the law, and the evidence to determine if the offense was indictable. Very enlightening overall.

 

[schmism]

If you can claim hardship they will give you a deferment.

having a desk job at the time that still payed 100% durring the time i was serving i looked forward to having some time away from the office.

Then i got called for a wrongfull death suit and got to sit through 5 weeks of testimony as an alternate.

 

[dmccarty]

When I was in school in FLA I got called to be on a Federal Grand Jury in Miami. I REALLY wanted to do it since the chances were it was going to be drug and/or corruption related. Figured it would be very interesting to serve on the Grand Jury.

But Miami was 60-90 minutes away and I would miss class so i had to get out of Jury Duty. I wrote them a letter and I was excused. I never found out how they picked me since I was not living in Dade County. The Feds either made a mistake picking me or the cast a very wide, multi county net.

Later,
Dan

 

[Kays Supply]

I am in Southern Illinois. One of my key employees had jury duty. He went in once to sign up. After that, he just would call in the night before. He never had to miss but the one day. They always got enough people before they got to him.

 

[capi75rs]

Yes, in Illinois if your employeer will not pay you for your days off, you can apply for a hardship. No guarentee you'll get off of jury duty, but you can get out of it under certain circumstances.

 

[jwstewar]

I had jury duty a couple of years back. One of the other prospective jurors was a farmer. He said that he had a cow getting ready to give birth and that he wouldn't be able to listen to the trial w/o being distracted because he would be worried about the calf and if it didn't survive the money it would cost him. The judge dismissed him. I would think you could say the same about your crops.

 

[Bird]

I'm sure it's a little different in different states; even different in different counties in Texas. I would have expected the notice you received to have a list of valid exemptions that allow you to skip jury duty altogether. And then at least some counties in Texas include information if you want to just postpone service.