Maybenaut wrote: ↑Thu Feb 24, 2022 9:37 am
I honestly don’t understand why some people don’t want to serve on a jury. It’s one of the few selfless acts you can do for a stranger.
I’ve never been summoned, but I’d gladly serve if called.
I would be glad to serve and now more since I am not teaching. When I lived up north I was a choir director and musical director, and being called at the wrong time could cause issues with concerts and such (luckily, I never needed to find out).
I have only been called a few times.
1. When I lived up north, you were on a pool for 6 months and you may be called upon for trial. When I was on a pool once, I got called twice but when I called in the night before, I was told not to report. Sort of annoyed I made sub plans and didn't need them (though on one of those days, it ended up being a snow day).
2. I called to report in Cook County which I gladly would have done, but was not sure about the fact that I was moving to Lake County on the weekend before I was to report. I called and explained the situation and did mention this was not an attempt to get out of jury duty but I realized there may be an issue with moving right before reporting. They told me they would excuse me but asked that I send in some sort of documentation after I had it (basically, a copy of the lease or a utility bill) which I did.
3. In my current location, I finally got as far as reporting but all I did was sit in the jury pool room all day and work on my team's Sharepoint site and do church music planning for the next 4 weeks. The saddest part of the experience was that we were not allowed to go to the law library while we were there. It was understandable but to be so close to one during the high part of the birther fun but not able to go was sad.
As for the attorneys here, while IANAL, part of me would not want you on a jury, especially if you were a litigation attorney. I would fear that a trained attorney might be able to influence a jury more than most.