I have been summoned to Jury duty, my brother is in prison, does that make me a "bad" candidate?

Question

I really don't want to be on a Jury. Heck, I don't even want to have to go to the instructional class, or the selections.

I'm in NH, and my older brother is a convicted felon in Mass... for most of the rest of his life.

Other than that my record is squeaky clean. I have no relatives in Law inforcement and no tickets or accidents on my driving record. No law suits, no anything really.

It couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm an accountant, and the instructions and selection are the week of our January month end close, and my company was just aquired by a huge fortune 50 company and we are trying to impress so none of us gets canned. Plus one other accountant in my dept just quit last week, and our boss is on Maternity leave... so it's already work overload enough.

I just don't want to do it and hope that having a convicted relative will help me get off the roster!! Will it?????

Answer 1

You have several issues.

* You have a relative in prison ... does that affect your perspective or suitability as a jury of peers of accused and victims.  I think it depends on your attitude towards what your relative was accused of, and whether you think he got a fair trial.  If you think he did not get a fair trial, then you may be more motivated than most to make sure other people do.

* It is a bad time in your career responsibilities to have to go on jury duty.  You can try to have your top management write the judge to explain this, saying there is no objection to you doing your duty, but why this time particularly bad.  Probably won't work, but get that on the record first & a fast reply.  Then the next thing to do is a filing with IRS SEC any other agency that might regulate your company and industry, to try to arrange to have their deadlines extended a few months ... list the work that will not get done on-time because you are on jury duty, like W2's, computing & paying annual income taxes on the company.  There is a process to go through to arrange to have your fiscal year extended.  It is a huge pain for the company, but an even bigger pain for the government.  This may lead to the IRS, SEC etc. putting pressure on the court system to delay your duty until after this critical time.

* When most people go into jury duty selection, they take a novel, because there are hours of waiting.  You should take a laptop, cell phone, and other office accutriments, and while other people are reading novels, you be busy working.  This is important to send message that you are frightfully busy, have these distractions.  Even when in the jury box, you be working except when they are asking you questions.  The message you are sending is that you will cooperate, but you have another job, that you cannot abandon.

Now a question for you ... why can't you do your work on the weekends ... aren't there days off for other people on Christmas and New Year's.

I am the computer guy for my employer.  I just spent approx 20 hours of my time, and 40 hours of our computer system's time Dec 21-23 doing preparation work for our year end close, and I estimate I will be working 3 days of 12+ each over New Year's on end fiscal, while co-workers are enjoying the holidays,

You can probably do your job and jury duty if you give up the holidays.

I have been in the same boat.  The judge said the only reason anyone is let off is because of reasons of their health.  My boss's letter did not let me off.

However, I must have had foot in mouth disease during the questions by the lawyers, because they decided not to pick me as one of the jurors.

Answer 2

You need to show up and just be honest.  They usually ask if anyone feels they have a hardship or financial burden which would occur if selected.  Just tell the court January is the busiest time of the year for your job and if maybe you can be excused until after January.  Don't have your boss write you a letter or call the court, because they are really getting down on employers for doing that.  The law states your employer HAS to let you go for jury duty, they just don't have to pay you for it.  Or you can just say, your brother is a convicted felon, in prison for the rest of his life and you feel he got the short end of the stick, so to speak.   That statement will surely get you excused.

Answer 3

I always just tell them that if the cops arrested them, then I think they're guilty. That's when I get dismissed.

Answer 4

The president of your company or whoever is in charge should be able to get an exemption for you for this jury call. Have him call the clerk of the court which issued the summons and explain the situation and to put you on a later list since you are indispensible for this period. This should be followed up by a letter from him to the court.

Answer 5

It depends on the crime he committed and if it has any connection to the crime that you would be connected with as a Juror.

Answer 6

Probably.  Prosecutors don't like to put people with felons in the family on a jury, because they are worried that you will have empathy for the defendant.  So be sure if they ask if anyone has a friend or relative in jail, to raise your hand high!  If they send you a questionnaire, there will be a similar question, so mark that you have a felon in the family.

Answer 7

No.  It might keep you off a trial in which the defendant is alleged to have done same thing for which your brother was convicted.