NY Jury Duty

[catnip]

I just recived a notice of non-compliance for failing to respond to my jury duty summons. The text of the letter looks kind of scary - anyone have experience on what to expect? I know, shame on me - terrible procrastinator...

 

Thanks in advance for any hindsight -

[Retired Fly Boy]

I lived in New York City for thirty years. The courts called me for jury duty every four years on a regular schedule. Once for grand jury duty that lasted one month. The judge always told us, if you fail to show for jury duty, you will be charged with contempt of court. He said it could mean a fine, jail or both. In any case you will have to make a trip to 60 Center Street. Best to contact a lawyer before you go.

[Guest Mikel]

Absolutely, secure an attorney. Don't brush this off as you apparently did the summons for Jury Duty.

[Doug69]

>I just recived a notice of non-compliance for failing to

>respond to my jury duty summons. The text of the letter looks

>kind of scary - anyone have experience on what to expect? I

>know, shame on me - terrible procrastinator...

>

>Thanks in advance for any hindsight -

 

The prior two responses contain absolutely awful advice which you should ignore.

 

The notice you recieved is completely routine. The maximum statutory penalty for this first notice hearing for non-compliance is $250, and that is almost never imposed, particuarly if someone has not been fined previously. The only ones on whom they impose the maximum fine the first time is lawyers, for obvious reasons.

 

Retaining a lawyer for a "hearing" like that is a profound waste of money. You show up, you are 1 of 100 people on the calender, the judge asks you why you missed, you give some lame stupid excuse, more likely than not s/he tells you not to do it again and to show up for the next one, MAYBE you get a $50 fine, and then you leave.

 

You talk to the judge for about 2 minutes at most. The real penalty is having to sit in that dingy shithole of a "court" for a couple hours while they read out everyone's endlessly long list of noncompliance events (that part can actually be funny).

 

Take deep breaths, ignore the Chicken Little grandmothers who preceded me, and just go to your hearing and show up this time and stop worrying about nothing.

[HooBoy]

Doug,

 

Thank you for this valuable advice.

 

Personally, the one time I was on Jury Duty, I enjoyed it. It is a privelege isn't it?

[catnip]

Thanks, Doug - big help.

[Spida]

I don't live in NYC but in Boston I ignored the first one and then the 2nd I called and they said just come in anytime in the next month so I picked a day and went. I know many people in Boston who ignored all of them they just give you a chance to make it up if you don't do that then they send a summons and give you a fine.

 

I was so bummed there was a murder trial and I didn't get picked! I wanted to see the judicial process first hand!

[AaronScottDC]

>I was so bummed there was a murder trial and I didn't get

>picked! I wanted to see the judicial process first hand!

 

If you really want to be on a jury for a trial, just move to DC. With the high rate of crime here, coupled with the low number of people who can actually be called for jury duty (must have a valid driver's license or be a registered voter AND never have been convicted of a crime), you will have a great chance to be on an actual trial. I get called for jury duty every two years like clock work. Its not all its cracked up to be, in my opinion.

 

Aaron Scott DC

http://www.erados.com/AaronScottDC

http://www.male4malescorts.com/reviews/aaronscottdc.html

[buckguy]

Actually, DC has a 2-year "duty" cycle, which means once you're called, you don't have to go again for 2 years.

 

Other factors that make the pool so small in DC---the large number of lawyers in DC. I once was on a panel and about 2/5 of the room were lawyers or had them as close family members, which meant they were disqualified. Also, many people who live in DC are not "residents". Think of all of the students (AU, GWU, HU, etc.), military people, interns, etc. who claim (legitamtely or not) that some place else is their home. I had a cousin in the military who claimed to be an Ohio resident for 20 years after he moved away (for tax purposes).

 

Still, in 3 times on jury duty, I only came close to being on a jury once. It was a case against a police officer and I had previously done police screenings as part of a job, so I was disqualified. Earlier that day, I'd been on another "panel" (what they call people being considered for an individual jury), but once we were seated in the courtroom, a group of attorneys walked through and shortly afterward, and we were dismissed. the consensus was that we were too "Northwest" and "Upper 16th Street" (too white and among the Blacks, too middle class).

 

Most people never make it to serving on a trial. There are worse ways to spend a day (try being stuck in a pointless meeting with idiots or worse, a "retreat"), although to listen to people whine during jury duty (esp. in DC--which, along with its neighboring jurisdictions, is whiner central), you'd think it was the end of the world. Bring something to read and act a grown-up. It's not that bad.

[woodlawn]

RE: Slackers

 

Doug's account is reasonably accurate, unfortunately. If I had my way slackers who ignore a jury summons would get the logical penalty -- they would be denied their right to trial by jury if charged with a crime in the future. People who refuse to serve on a jury shouldn't expect to be able to demand that others serve on a jury when they want one.

[+ Lucky]

From the Downtown Express:

 

Civics, humor and a little jury romance

 

By Maria Ma

 

 

 

Several times a week, Walter Schretzman does his best song-and-dance for a captive audience that would rather, frankly, be anywhere else.

 

But still they come — Wall Street titans, deli workers, scruffy-haired hipsters — because the penalty for skipping jury duty is a stiff fine and a judicial hearing.

 

 

“They have to do their bit,” says Schretzman, 50, a clerk at the New York County Court House’s Jury Division at 100 Centre St., where most weekday mornings, up to 125 prospective jurors from Manhattan and Roosevelt Island report for service.

 

 

He does his bit too: after collecting jury summonses from these new initiates one recent morning, many stony-faced and armed with coffee and reading material, Schretzman exhorts everyone to “at least pretend to pay attention for the next few minutes,” then launches into a 20-minute spiel on civic participation, the American judicial system and restroom locations.

 

 

The assembled jurors are treated to such tips as don’t argue with the judge; don’t take six-hour breaks; it’s okay to eat in the jury room no matter what the sign says; and don’t come to the back office and wake everybody up to tell us you can’t serve because of your occupation.

 

 

The monologue is equal parts lecture and plea, but thanks to Schretzman’s booming voice, wit and sense of comic timing, the mood in the jury room has lightened somewhat. There are fewer sighs, and even some tentative smiles and a few grins.

“I try to make them chuckle, but I also try to remind them that we’re here to get justice through reasoning together, to preserve civilization against anarchic impulses,” Schretzman says, though he also admits, “I don’t know if they’re really won over or not.”

 

 

And yet, these people are the ones obeying the law, and they’re in the minority. Up to 65 percent of city residents summoned for jury duty ignore their notices, though it’s a marked improvement over the statistics of a decade ago, when roughly 85 percent were scofflaws.

 

 

Reforms passed in 1998 have contributed to the increased response rate. These include summoning residents for service once every four years instead of two; establishing more stringent punitive measures against those who flout their jury service; raising juror pay from $15 to $40 per day; and eliminating automatic exemptions for occupations such as lawyers, nurses and podiatrists.

 

 

For those who do show up to perform their civic duty, Schretzman, a tall, silver-haired ex-court officer with the rangy build of a long-distance runner, tries to minimize their pain and suffering, even for the ones with an attitude. He says that even now, in his eleventh year on the job, he still enjoys meeting people. In fact, he met his girlfriend, a classical musician, while she was serving on a jury.

 

 

He recalled seeing her outside by a lunch stand. “She smiled, I smiled, and I’ve been smiling ever since,” Schretzman says.

 

 

The dozens of autographed headshot photographs hanging in his office – some depicting the truly famous, others of unknowns with lofty aspirations – are testament to the egalitarian nature of the city’s jury selection process. Gwyneth Paltrow, Tricia Nixon and Philip Glass have all performed their civic duty here.

 

 

“Everyone gets equal treatment,” Schretzman says. “I’m a democrat, so I’m excited to meet everyone.”

 

 

But why does he have a signed photo of the Muppets?

 

 

Schretzman shrugs. “They showed up, but they were disqualified from serving due to being non-human,” he deadpans.

 

 

Though Schretzman believes that jury duty is each citizen’s sacred responsibility, this view is not always shared in the jury room, where requests for postponements and exemptions are common. Although the city allows each resident one automatic postponement, subsequent ones and exemptions are rarely granted, except on the grounds of medical infirmity or severe financial hardship.

 

 

Schretzman, who has heard it all, claims that, “New Yorkers aren’t that creative with their excuses. It’s usually something like, ‘a close relative is about to enter the next world,’ or ‘I’m losing $1000 a day just by being here.’”

 

 

For them, he has a ready reply.

 

 

“I say, ‘you’re an American. It’s not always easy.’”

[Retired Fly Boy]

I love guys like Doug 69. Typical, have to call people names, like chicken little grandmothers. I did not say to hire a lawyer, just to talk to one if you could. You want to blow off jury duty, like it was some pain in the ass thing to do in your busy day. Call the court some shit hole. This is the reason we have such second class jurys and criminals walk free. The reason 20 million dollar awards are given for a hot drink dumped in some jerks lap. The reason that O.J. Simpson got off free for killing two people. A real American patriot like me, shows up when I get a jury summons and I got one every four years. When my draft letter came in the mail, I showed up for that as well. The ones who never did a damm thing for this country always mouth off the most. When I was on the Grand Jury for one month, I was shocked at the power I had as a citizen. We had the authority to round up every dead beat in New York and bring them before the court. I never thought of it as a waste of my time. I was glad I got them off the streets. Chicken little at least did his duty to his country. I rest my case.

[HightopGuy]

I've served on jurys twice in my life, both in Colorado. The first was a criminal trial, the second was a civil trial, and BOTH were a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

 

The criminal trial involved some cops who entered an apartment and found ten or so people in there, and one half-open bag of crack on the sofa. So they arrested EVERYONE for "possession" and tried them all separately. The jury I was on got a guy who happened to be sitting on the sofa at the time, but there's no way the DA could prove anybody in particular had "possession" of the bag at any given time, so we had to let him go. When our jury submitted a question to the judge asking exactly what "possession" meant he basically told us to stop asking questions and get back to deliberating. The goddam lawyers got more facetime and respect from the judge than the jurors!

 

The civil trial was some lady who was trying to collect some money from her insurance agent because somebody in a car ran over her foot. Turns out, she instigated the argument and escalated the whole encounter. So we judged her more than 50% at fault and told her to go pound sand.

 

After serving twice, I think the system is a joke. Too many cases end up before juries that should have been just thrown out. And when you serve, you're subjected to a never-ending parade of stall tactics from the windbag lawyers who drone on endlessly because they like to hear themselves talk.

 

Next time I'm called up, I'm going to say that I'm a member of FIJA, the Fully Informed Jury Assocation (http://www.fija.org), and believe strongly in the concept of jury nullification (which I do believe in). Mention you believe in the concept of jury nullification to a judge or a DA and you'll be one of the first ones stricken from the pool. God forbid a jury have the right to actually decide the merit of a law (judges hate that concept).

[Doug69]

>I love guys like Doug 69.

 

Thank you! Sorry I can't return the compliment.

 

Typical, have to call people names,

>like chicken little grandmothers.

 

The original poster expressed fear and anxiety over something that - if he were informed - ought to have caused neither. Rather than soothe his concerns or educate him. you harmfully reinforced his unwarranted fears by advising him to seek legal counsel. That is hysterical, fear-mongering, misguided, ill-informed advice that you gave. Rather than say so, I thought it was more polite just to call it the advice from a chicken little grandmother. And look at the thanks I get for my restrain and consideration.

 

I did not say to hire a

>lawyer, just to talk to one if you could.

 

Lawyers are many things, but one thing they typically are not is free. So telling someone to talk to a lawyer is tantamount to telling someone to "hire" one. But my point must have been persuasive to you, since you're now trying to pretend that you didn't say what you said. I can't say I blame you.

 

>You want to blow off

>jury duty, like it was some pain in the ass thing to do in

>your busy day.

 

I don't know who you're addressing here, but I never said I "blew off" jury duty.

 

>Call the court some shit hole.

 

Many of the courts in New York City are shit holes, especially the lowest level ones where jury summons "hearings" are heard. The toilets are broken, the walls are decaying, the entire place smells, they are more cramped and crowded than a 9:00 A.M. subway - why, they're even more cramped than your hole!

 

>This is the

>reason we have such second class jurys and criminals walk

>free. The reason 20 million dollar awards are given for a hot

>drink dumped in some jerks lap. The reason that O.J. Simpson

>got off free for killing two people.

 

LOL!! First of all, the hallmark of a moron who pontifficates stupidly about the legal system without knowing the first thing about it is someone who cites the cliched "she-got-$20 million-for-spilling-coffee-on-herself" incident. Some day you ought to learn about what actually happened there.

 

Secondly, you're completely contradicating yourself. On the one hand, you're saying that people who show up for jury duty are civic-minded patriots who represent everything good in the society, whereas those who don't show up are lazy, worthless deadbeats.

 

But then, in the next smelly breath, you're positing that the reason the legal system is so fucked is because the wonderful, brave citizens who DO show up for jury duty make really stupid decisions. Even more baffling, you're then claiming that solution to the woes of the legal system is to have more of those lazy deadbeats for whom you have such contempt empanelled on juries.

 

Don't you see how dumb and contradictory that is?

 

A real American patriot

>like me, shows up when I get jury summons and I got one

>every four years. When my draft letter came in the mail, I

>showed up for that as well. The ones who never did a damm

>thing for this country always mouth off the most. When I was

>on the Grand Jury for one month, I was shocked at the power I

>had as a citizen. We had the authority to round up every dead

>beat in New York and bring them before the court. I never

>thought of it as a waste of my time. I was glad I got them off

>the streets. Chicken little at least did his duty to his

>country. I rest my case.

 

Wow - you really get off on complimenting yourself and holding yourself out as virtuous and good. Why do you think that is?

[+ Charlie]

It's never a good idea to generalize from only two cases. I have also served on two juries, once as foreman in a criminal case, and in each instance the issue was a complicated one that was worth trying, the judge was reasonable, the lawyers on both sides made honorable efforts, and the jurors did their best and made decisions that, I think, brought justice to the parties involved. My experience may be no more typical than yours, but I think the jury system is worth supporting by participating in it sincerely.

[woodlawn]

>After serving twice, I think the system is a joke. Too many

>cases end up before juries that should have been just thrown

>out. And when you serve, you're subjected to a never-ending

>parade of stall tactics from the windbag lawyers who drone on

>endlessly because they like to hear themselves talk.

 

What a pity that you had to endure such terrible hardships. It would be so much more efficient if rather than burdening honest citizens with the duty of determining a defendant's guilt or innocence at trial, we could simply assume everyone charged with a crime is guilty and shoot him -- or perhaps toss a coin?

 

 

> God forbid a jury have the

>right to actually decide the merit of a law (judges hate that

>concept).

 

The reason they hate it is because it has nothing to do with the role of jurors in our system. The jury in a trial is the finder of fact, meaning that the jurors hear the evidence and decide on that basis what the true facts of the case are, then apply to those facts the law as explained to them by the judge. It is no part of their job to decide what the law is or what it should be -- that is why we elect legislators.

 

As for "jury nullification," this is the concept that allows jurors in a town where many have racial bias to acquit a policeman who beats a handcuffed black suspect because they think beating up black guys accused of crime is what the police are supposed to do. Anybody ever heard of such a case?

 

Can't we all just get along?

[Guest EWC]

Getting out of jury duty is still extremely simple. When the summons comes (at least from the various Los Angeles Courts) they ask if you are unqualified to serve. Simply check the box that says that you're an ex felon. If you are committing perjury on that form you're just time shifting a little because you would then be in the position of being an uncaught felon.

[Guest cliffw]

I lost the first notice. Finally got the next one complete with threats. Also with a phone number (in L A) to register. Did that. Got a message to call back at a certain time/date. Did that. Got a message 5 days in a row to call back the next morning. Did that. The last day there was a message that I had fulfilled my obligation. All I had to do was return the notice which I did. Believe me I kept the copy of all this with my registration number and dates. One never knows. Cover your ass and file the info where you can find it if they come back denying you did it.

[samhexum]

[+ Funguy]

The reason 20 million dollar awards are given for a hot drink dumped in some jerks lap.

 

I'm only going to comment on this one little sentence.

If you are commenting on the infamous McDonald's case, you should know that the plaintiff/victim spent several months in a burn unit and required multiple skin grafts - all for that too-hot cup of coffee!!

[Good Grief]

I'm only going to comment on this one little sentence.

If you are commenting on the infamous McDonald's case, you should know that the plaintiff/victim spent several months in a burn unit and required multiple skin grafts - all for that too-hot cup of coffee!!

 

@Funguy , you commented on a post from 2004...

 

Not really sure why this whole thing was lifted from mothballs - @samhexum ?

[samhexum]

[uSER=9945]

Not really sure why this whole thing was lifted from mothballs - @samhexum ?[/uSER]

[uSER=9945]

 

I love the smell of camphor.[/user]

[+ purplekow]

@Funguy , you commented on a post from 2004...

 

Not really sure why this whole thing was lifted from mothballs - @samhexum ?

Yes after she took hot coffee and placed it between her legs and drove off.

[Good Grief]

[uSER=9945]

 

I love the smell of camphor.[/user]

 

Why is it if I select your statement - I love the smell of camphor - I'm directed to @Funguy 's profile link?

 

Odd.

[MikeBiDude]

Yes after she took hot coffee and placed it between her legs and drove off.

Her multi-million dollar jury award was significantly reduced by a judge later

http://Https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants