Jury Duty VI

I don’t have to show up for federal jury duty -- again. The case was either canceled or the defendant decided to take a plea. Whatever happened, my four months federal jury service is officially over – at least that’s what the recorded message stated. Sorry Jenn.

Though I think it would be interesting to serve on a jury, this service would have been very inconvenient had I been chosen. Room for Two is being used as a text for one of the classes at Weber State University and I'm scheduled to do a reading and take part in a discussion about it on Tuesday, April 22. Thankfully, there are no potential conflicts now.

By the way, if any of my readers are going to be in the Ogden area on Tuesday and want to attend, email me and I'll let you know the details of the event.

Jury Duty V

I forgot that I was still on call for Federal Jury Duty until the end of April, until jury summons arrived in the mail yesterday.

My summons in February didn’t go through because they either rescheduled the case or reached some kind of settlement before the trial. I’m crossing my fingers it happens again.

If not, I’m sure I’ll have an entry that Jenn will enjoy.

Jury Duty IV

Well the much anticipated jury call didn’t come through. I called the jury number Friday night and was greeted by a recorded message saying the case had been canceled. Instead I spent the morning moving office furniture. Sorry, Jenn.

But I’m still on call through April. Another case might come up.

Jury Duty III

It looks like the federal government wants me to show up for jury selection after all. After I mailed back the form I received with my federal jury summons late last year, I didn’t hear anything back and thought I wasn’t needed after all. I was wrong.

Saturday I received an official looking notice to appear for jury duty in the mail. Unless they change the date or the defendant reaches a plea deal, I have to report to the federal courthouse in Salt Lake next week to go through the jury selection process. Since I’ve never done it before, I’m actually looking forward to it even though I hear it’s a fairly boring and mundane process.

The one thing I’m not looking forward to about it is parking. In downtown Salt Lake City, that can be an absolute nightmare.

Jury Duty II

 

Marathon Girl received a county jury duty summons this week.

The good news is that it's for a county that she no longer a resident of so she's off the hook. Her application, much less complicated that the federal jury summons I received last month, was as simple as checking a couple of boxes and mailing it back.

I'm not a math person but I think it's pretty rare that both a husband and wife would get hit with a jury duty summons for the same period of time.

Anyone want to calculate those odds?

Jury Duty

For the first time in my life I received a jury summons in the mail. Not just any jury summon, mind you. This was a federal jury summons.

According to the paperwork that arrived, I'm put in a pool of potential jurors to hear federal cases for a four month period of time. During that four month period I can be called to go through the jury selection process (with advance notice given when I need to show up, of course). There's a list of exemptions or hardship excuses you can petition the court to get out of it but since I don't qualify for any of them I guess I'll be calling a phone number once a week to see if they need me down at the federal courthouse.

Though I can't say I look forward to actually sitting on a jury, I think it would be interesting experience to see how cases are actually prosecuted and defended and then have to weigh the evidence. A friend of mine sat on a sexual harassment case a couple years back and had some interesting stories to tell about the legal system and the case itself.

In any case it's out of my hands when or if I'm summoned. The required paperwork has been mailed back to the courthouse. All I can do is wait and see what happens.