Is going out of town a good excuse for getting out of jury duty?

Question

I have a vacation planned for September 5-8th; my hotel room has been booked, tickets have been purchased, etc. I just received a jury summons for August 29th, and I have no idea how long the whole process is going to take for selection and service, and anything else they can throw at me. I refuse to cancel my vacation and since there's a chance that it may coincide with jury duty, is that a good excuse to be pardoned? If not, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Someone let me know.

I live in New York, if that makes any difference. My vacation is in Virginia.

Answer 1

it's a good excuse for rescheduling... but not for getting out altogether

Answer 2

Most judges will allow you to do that if you inform them ahead of time.  If you just don't show up, the Sheriff will come see you in my area.

Answer 3

Can't you get out of it by reading up on the case in the local papers and appearing highly biased as if you've made up your mind already and want the defendant to either fry or walk? It might help to have either a strong sympathy or unusual leval of antipathy to the type(s) of crimes he or she is accused of.

This is def. one way out of jury duty; they can't have openly biased members. Just knowing about a case often automatically disqualifies you!

Answer 4

Actually this is the beat answer for getting excused I have ever seen used. The clerk of the court will either excuse you for the time you are gone of if your panel is like NM then you will be placed in the other half or you get placed on the next panel. I have seen people excused for travel just take your reservations and tickets to the clerk of the court now and they will deal with it. This way you do not get a surprise out of the deal. Neither do they and everyone is happy.

Answer 5

Have you tried calling the jury commissioner's office?

It is a valid reason for having it  rescheduled, but for getting out of it, no.

Answer 6

I live in Phila so this may not apply. In Phila you can call the jury folks and reschedule - usually not a problem.

Answer 7

totally jury duty stinks lol =]

Answer 8

they have accommodated me in the past but you need to let them know in advance. Very likely they will reschedule you to another time period.

I'm glad to see you aren't trying to get out of it altogether. It is an experience and one I believe helped make me a better citizen. You will find yourself being more skeptical of what you read in the news or sound bites you hear when you start to examine a case in detail.

Answer 9

go to jury duty be yourself ,they Will dismiss you.(send me the tix if not! OR,Have fun, go to JAIL !

Answer 10

You need to reschedule your vacation. It is not a valid reason to not do your civic duty.