Today was the second week I've had to make a phone call to the 1-800 number on my U.S. District Court summons. I have to make that call 3 more times.
At the end of July, I received a U.S. District Court Summons. I'm all for doing my civic duty. I have a good job that will pay me for the days I'm absent. Why am I unhappy about this summons? Let me tell you....I have to call in every Thursday evening after 6 p.m for 5 weeks to find out if I need to appear the following week for jury duty.
The court is located 30 miles from my home in the big city. I'm just a little townie kind of gal who doesn't like to go very far from home. In my younger day, I was quite adventurous and loved to get in the car and drive anywhere. Not anymore! Going up the road 7 miles to the little city is a chore for me. Anyway, there's only about 3 different ways to get into the big city from where I live. All those routes currently have extensive road work being done. The delays are excruciating. So, my 30 minute trip into the big city would probably be more like 60 minutes of driving time.
Once you arrive in the city, you must find a place to park. The summons brochure gives you directions to the parking garage location that you can have your ticket validated at and they will waive your fee. Sounds good, huh? Not! You then must leave the parking garage and walk 2 1/2 blocks through the worst section of the city. Crime (believe it or not) is a daily occurrence in the surrounding area of our Federal Court Building. I've heard of murders, robberies, stabbings and much more that happen on a daily basis near this location. It's also probably at least a 10 - 15 minute walk.
So in order to arrive on time if I were to appear, I figure I would have to leave the house at least 1 1/2 hour before I would need to appear. Then, if you are fortunate enough to be picked to be on the jury the court day lasts 9 hours! Then I would be fortunate enough to turn around to go home during rush hour, which would probably take around 2 hours in the evening. Whoa! Hold on, Nelly, really, a 12 1/2 hour day to do my civic duty sounds a bit much to me.
They do not supply you with food nor a refrigerated location for any lunches that you may bring. You are not allowed to bring cell phones, pagers, BlackBerries, PDA (what is that?) nor laptop computers. Okay, I don't own any of those, so no problem there.
You can only be excused from this duty if you are over 70 years old, live more than 90 miles from the courthouse, if you moved out of the area, are serving in the military overseas, or you are currently incarcerated. LOL! The brochure informs you that "Any person who fails to comply with the summons may be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than 3 days or both."
Also, if you defer your summons to a later date, you MUST comply the next time they 'call you up.' You can end up back on the lottery after 2 years of serving to be 'called up' again. If you do not actually physically appear for jury duty (meaning you call each week, but never have to actually go in), they put your name back into the lottery for any time in the future immediately.
I called last week and my number didn't come up, hence I didn't need to appear. This week I called and they said there were no cases to be tried this week; therefore, all jurors needed to call again next week. Whew! I am happy I haven't had to appear, but unfortunately, I'm really hoping I don't have to at this point.
Next Thursday, I have a dentist appointment which has been in the making for 3 months. I really, really need to get that tooth built back up. (I chipped a back tooth a while ago and all kinds of goop gets caught in there - hope that's not TMI!). Friday and Saturday we are going to my son's college campus for their Homecoming/Family Weekend. I really don't want to have to appear then, because I just sent a check for $85 for the entire family to participate. If I have jury duty, I don't think hubby would drive the 2 hours to spend the weekend without me. But then again, maybe he would. The following Monday, my son has his football game that concludes Homecoming weekend. So...you can see my dilemma.
I don't have a lot going on in my life at this time, but what about the people who do? How do they deal with 5 weeks of being on call for jury duty?
Hmmm, now I know why people don't like to do their civic duty.
8 comments:
Wow! Certainly different than it is around here. They pick certain people to appear for a certain case and then you call the night before to see if it's still on or not. If it is, you go in (safe neighborhood, lots of free parking) and whether or not you're chosen, you don't have to appear again for a year. If it's not on, you can be notified twice more or for six months whichever comes first. We're paid $10 a day plus mileage if you live out of town.
I'm glad you're work will still pay you. Our school district won't pay you unless you turn in the court check. Otherwise they will deduct a day's pay from your paycheck.
When I was called up for two local court appearances, it was much the way you described. You called the night before to see if you needed to appear for the case the next day.
Must be the federal courts work differently.
In our area, they pay $40 per day plus mileage.
At our school you just need to present your summons, then they 'trust' you to be honest as to whether you appeared or not for your pay!
Local court here is District court. After that you go to appellate court and it's judges only--no jurists.
$40?? That would be great!
You have your options here--keep the court check or sign it over to the school district and get your regular paycheck. Even with first year para and aids only getting about $7 an hour, it's a no brainer as to whether you sign it over or not.
Actually, I really make out as I get to keep the $40 plus gas mileage, then get paid for the day! I know, I know, I work for a great school district!
That certainly does sound like a big song and dance to go through for JD! My Dh got $55 dollars a day in the state of CT and MA. and his job made up the difference which was nice...
This was once shared with me as some reasons why folks are not too keen of fullfilling their *civic duty* I thought it might be something to think about. :-)
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Reservations about serving on a jury as a (Christian):
1. Participating too closely in the functioning of a kingdom of this world.
2. Putting yourself in the place of God by playing judge.
3. The conflict of interests in, as a Christian, being called to the ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation and the state’s God-mandated duty to punish those who do harm so we don’t have to (Romans 12-13).
4. The criminal justice system provides little justice. Innocent people are found guilty, and guilty people who are punished are not rehabilitated. Our criminal justice system lacks much true justice, compassion, mercy and redemption. Should I, as a Christian, partner with such a corrupt system?
5. I am called by Jesus to live by “turn the other cheek” and no longer by “eye for eye” so the potential of me being put on a case that could lead to a death penalty charge is truly troublesome.
6. Paul told Christians they shouldn’t be taking one another to court. If there were a case of Christian vs. Christian could I participate in it?
That is an interesting list and most definitely something to think about.
I do believe that if I were to ever serve on this jury that I would pray for God to guide me through the process. I don't think I'd be making a decision on this court to send someone to their death, but, yeah, that would be troublesome.
But, I also believe our corrupt society does need laws and regulations to abide by. I don't think turning the other cheek is a good way of dealing with a murderer or a rapist or even a child molester, so that he can go back out on the streets and commit that crime over and over again, either.
As to Paul telling Christians that they shouldn't take other Christians to court...well, most likely I might not know that at the time of the case, but still I would think the person not obeying Paul's request would be the person initializing the court proceedings, not the jury members. KWIM?
Just some thoughts that happened to run through my mind.
Well, consider yourself lucky because in our small community if you get picked it's not for 5 weeks it's for 6 months!!! My husband had it once and it was such a pain. And every time he did have to go in we lost SOOOO much money because what they paid was just a penance compared to what our paycheck would have been. Since he's self employed when he doesn't work he doesn't get paid, so we lost alot. It was awful.
Little Lady
Little Lady,
I guess I am fortunate so far. I haven't had to appear thus far. AND I am fortunate that my employer is so generous.
It would be better to give the self-employed an exemption, I think.
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