I want to unregister so I won't be hassled to stand on a jury. ?

Question

I was sent a form to fill out with everything but my blood type(sarcasm)& they have a space to fill out why you can't serve on a jury. I am not even home during the week. I am at my daughters' home 60 miles away from Monday thru Saturday EVERY week babysitting her baby.This will not end anytime soon. It is just her & her child. THAT wasn't good enough for them. I told them there was no one to take care of her, only me. My husband works nights & gets home around 10am every morning & therefore I would have to bring her with me & THAT is out of the question. I do not want her in that environment. They said they would have to take her down to the Sheriff's office to be babysat. Ummm....NO! ANYway, my only saving grace was that the person who left the message on my machine wasn't supposed to leave a message. She was to talk to someone personally on the phone. Soooo, they told me to call the sheriff's office directly & when I did & explained, yet again, my situation & about the message, she told me not to come in. They tell all those that get a message on the answering machine instead of 'personally' to not come in. I have kept the message & will for a couple of months. Jusssst in case!

Sigh! Now, my husband thinks I will have a warrant out for my arrest when I don't show up.

How can you be arrested for something that isn't a law to begin with? Yes, I know. She said once 'summoned' they can do that if you fail to appear.

How about making it a law instead of 'your civic duty'(sarcasm there!)if they are going to deny you ANY legitimate reason for not being able to serve!

THAT is why I want to unregister. The only way they call you to serve is if you are registered! I won't be voting in the Presidential election this year anyway because I don't like either candidate. Also, when we do move closer to our daughter, I won't be registering in that county. Solely because of the jury thing.

Thanx for listening to me vent!

Answer 1

A right to vote is a privilege of American citizens that haven't been convicted of a felony. I am sure that there are more people just like yourself out there. Your excuse was not an exemption hence the problems. I would hope that if I was convicted of a crime that I would not have you serve on the jury anyway. Due to your anger about serving I would not see how I could get a fair trial. I don't think there is a way to un-register to vote.....Call up your local voters registration office and ask them.

Answer 2

Nowadays, they go by your drivers liscense so even if you're not registered to vote then you can still be called to serve.  

I understand your situation is a bit unique and you can't serve right now, but maybe sometime in the future you will change your mind about it.  It was a privilege for me to be called to serve, I found it quite interesting too.  The employees of the court are so nice to the jurors too!  

Answer 3

It IS a pain in the butt.  Last time I was called, we sat in a room from 8:30 to 12:00.  Then we got a TWO HOUR lunch, (i am quite sure it wasn't for OUR convenience -- the judges always get 2 hour lunches, go figure), then we sat in the room for 3 and a half more hours till 5:30 when they told us to go home.  Big waste of time.  

Answer 4

Well, you did not say what state you are in, but most states have been following the same basic philosophy and that is that you are at the very least responsible for showing up for your court order summons.

The reason that most states have lost their flexibility with jurors is that everyone has a reason for not wanting to be inconvenience with this responsibility. The person that explained to you about the fail to appear left out the second sentence, "contempt of court", which means that it is two laws you will break.

The court will accommodate you by allowing you to transfer to a courthouse that is most convenient for you; I am surprise that the Sheriff has accommodation for babysitting.

When I have been summoned I have had on occasions been given the option to call in the day before to see if I am needed to go to the courthouse. You may only have to appear for a maximum of two days, if you are not picked as a juror in that time than you have meant your annual obligation.

I have attended the L.A. Superior Courts, when I have been called in I normally don't get picked by the attorneys to be a juror, for several reasons, I sit on the Board of Director for a major law firm, in my family there are several police officers and I have several other high profiled legal parts of my life. I personally believe I would be the perfect juror, but most defense attorneys think I can not be fair or impartial. By the way, although my daughter is an adult now, I had to find a babysitter, I would have loved to have an officer at the courthouse.

My point to you is that although your husband understands the law, at this point you will not have the Marshall haul you off to jail, all you need to do is call the number on the application and make new arrangements.

The fact that you believe that when registering is an on and off switch to use at your convenience is incorrect, you may want to ask your source. You may not want to vote which is of course your choose but you only register once and make adjustment from that point on. Again, if you do not register in the county where you want to live, all that will do is keep you as juror in the area where you are at now. The courts are not concern about what you may or may not do sooner or later.

FYI: I have heard a number of reason that juror have been release from sitting on a jury: drug abuse - person, family member(s)

you do not feel that you can be impartial to the defendant,

you do not have the education to understand the case,

you have first had knowledge of the case (news, newspaper, radio...)

I do not understand the point you are trying to make about the answering machine message, that is not really an excuse for jury duty unless you have a persons first and last name, because it could be anyone on the message, but that again does not mean anything.  You maybe able to make a case to postpone jury duty because of your grandchild, but to not attend would be a hard to call because of the Sheriff's babysitting program.

The only reason I do not have a problem now being summons is because it is only a couple of days, I remember not to long ago you would be held captive in a jury room for two weeks, with a broken t.v., people that wanted to make small talk, games without all the pieces and no phones....

Answer 5

I understand your frustration, and while like you I consider jury duty an inconvenience to work and home routines (I have 3 young kids), I also respect it as part of our civic duty as citizens of this great country.

I think you should consider yourself a bit lucky for "getting off the hook" based on what you described as a procedural technicality (which I was not aware of).  Depending on what jurisdiction you live in, they do most likely get juror names from multiple sources not only voter registration, but also homeowner's rolls but (kind of a clincher for most) driver's registration, even though all those do include some small percentage that are not citizens (and therefore have any easy excuse out), so don't mislead yourself into thinking you can easily "disappear" from the juror pool.

I have been called I think 4 times in about 20+ years, once got out because freshman year of college but summoned from my parents home address where I had been registered to vote, once passed a week of calling without having to go in, once went in but didn't get picked for any courtroom, and once in a courtroom actually got selected to be questioned for the jury but got dismissed by one of the lawyers.  From that last one, I can tell you surely, as you probably already know, that the law does not allow dismissal or excusing oneself because you say you have to care for another person even a family member unless you can prove and be prepared under law to show doctor's medical proof that you are the *only* person who can provide such personal care.  Babysitting no matter how inconvenient for you or your relatives won't get you off, as once chosen you are simply expected to get alternate care no matter the cost or hassle to you.  Several people before me tried that angle, none got excused, and by the last few the judge started getting irritated and sternly lecturing people continuing to try the same explanation.  I think if selected *and* the trial is expected to last a long time, only then can you begin to be considered for the financial hardship attempt at dismissal, not because of inconvenience but only if you can prove that the cost of alternate care is great enough that the court will consider it unfair to you.

So this is not to side with you or against you, just trying to lay down hopefully some useful details of how the system works.  Good luck to you in the future "winning" the non-selection lottery, but if called again, think carefully about what will and won't work as an excuse, it will save you much frustration from venting on government officials who are just doing their job according to the law and who won't let you off for reasons such as inconvenience...

Answer 6

Move back to Mexico . You should feel honored to serve. What if everyone refuse to serve ?

Answer 7

Declare that regardless of whoever is on trial, and especially if that person harmed a cop, you will vote not-guilty every time.  

Answer 8

You can't " unregister".  Once your name comes up on the computer you have to make all reasonable efforts to go. It doesn't mean you are going to be picked, but you must show up. If you don't a bench warrant can be issued for your arrest.

I knew someone who had to travel 48 miles by taxi, then bus, then train to get to where she was supposed to go . She didn't have a car. And she had to hire a babysitter for her kids.