Getting Out of Jury Duty

I had to go to Jury Duty today.  I went last week,  but was told to come back today to see if I was going to serve on a jury lasting sixty days.  There was probably about 80 or 90 other jurors there with me.  When the judge asked if anyone had any problems serving on the jury, the floodgates opened.

People came up with all sorts of excuses.  The case revolved around the plaintiffs alleging that they were subject to discrimination by the city of Los Angeles.  The list of excuses that people came up with to get out of this case included:

• projects at work


• vacations


• weddings (their own)


• being from Canada (but now a US citizen)


• having hemorrhoids


• a sick mother


• having someone saying something racial to them


• having a friend whose husband was a police officer

When it came my turn I felt a little guilty because this poor judge had to hear so many excuses.  I stuck with the plain and simple truth.  I told the judge I was not time qualified because my employer would not pay for more than ten days of jury service.

He convened with the lawyers on the case and released a dozen jurors, I being one of them.   This was probably less than 30% of the people who came up with some excuse.  I cannot imagine being a judge and having to hear this type of thing every day.