What can I do about serving Grand Jury Duty :-( ??

Question

I received a summons for GRAND jury duty in June, but since I already booked a trip to Spain, I was able to postpone it. When I returned, I applied, interviewed and obtained a new job. In obtaining this new job, I already had to delay my starting once for 2 weeks due to an inability to get a doctors appointment for the pre-employment processing. Once I was able to start, I couldn't attend the mandatory orientation training so I started the next available day, worked for a week and a half and then attended this mandatory orientation. I am now called again for Grand Jury Duty, on August 11th, which is next week. I'm on my second week at work and my department's official training begins on August 20, which I cannot miss because there isn't another one for a month. It wouldn't be a problem if it lasted a day or two, however I just read that Grand Jury Duty lasts from 2 weeks until a month. What can I do about this? Should I have my employer write a letter about my training session?

Answer 1

Take the notice in to your employer and ask him if he wants to try to get you off jury duty. Many will say to attend, in fact my employer told me not to worry he would continue to pay me, and did for 4 months on a multiple rape murder case.  Since it was a small business this was a real strain. (Please note that he and I met while on a Jury in California. and we were both there for the make a decision speech)

One lady on the panel was raising every kind of cain and the Judge was apparently listening in and was ticked off with her retinoic. Because all of a sudden he swept in to the court room and court was in session. He called her to the front of the room and told her words to the effect.

"You are an American citizen with all the rights and privileges pertaining to being a citizen. Jury Duty is one of the few duties of being an American citizen spelled out in the constitution and you will meet that obligation as a proper citizen or you will renounce said citizenship right this minute. Decide!!! She sat down and shut up. I do not recall hearing her say another word. She was never picked for a jury but she was always there.

Answer 2

1. Take Jury Duty. It is vital that people understand how important jury duty is. Please remember the duty of a juror. For basic jurors the job is to determine guilt or innocence, it is not to determine if a law was broken. A jury actually has the power to challenge a law. Trial by jury is a remarkable establishment. The grand jury is where the government is trying to determine whether they have sufficient evidence against someone to bring official charges against them. They present the evidence they have and the grand jury votes on whether or not the government should indict. It's looked at as a "test" and a decision on whether tax money should be spend prosecuting to accused.

2. In most States an employer cannot punish you for serving on a jury, they cannot replace you or give you a reprimand. They do not have to pay you.

3. Find out the schedule, call the courthouse. It's not uncommon for the grand jury to meet only one day per week, or even every other week, over a month or two or three. Relay your findings to your employer. It may not be a major problem to serve.

With basic jury duty you don't know if you'll be chosen as a juror or sit around in a room all day. On the grand jury you will have business. The grand jury can be interesting. It's mostly drug cases and unfortunately you'll find yourself voting to indict. But occasionally there's corruption charges or some such.