jury duty "no show" ?

[MrsGungho]

You're going to have to give up your driver's license if you want to avoid it now.

I missed this, when did it take effect?

 

[Goosepond Monster]

I missed this, when did it take effect?

It looks like it came out in April of 2007 and apparently you'd have to stop paying taxes as well to avoid being on the list...

An updated version of the Indiana Supreme Court's Jury Pool Master List is now available to all Indiana counties free of charge. The Jury Pool Master List is the most comprehensive and accurate ever available. The project has received both national and state recognition for including virtually all eligible citizens. Previously, only 60-80% of those eligible to serve were included on jury pool lists and now the number is more than 99%.
The Indiana Supreme Court received a Special Merit Citation from the American Judicature Society and the Indiana Civil Liberties Union's Sigmund Beck Award for this project which increased jury pool diversity.
"Our jury system can only work at its best if all eligible citizens are included in the process and have the opportunity to serve one of the most important functions in our legal system," said Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard.
The Jury Pool Master List was unveiled to judges at the September 2005 Judicial Conference. The impetus for this project was Jury Reform implemented by the Supreme Court in 2002 which required that juries be drawn from as broad a spectrum as possible and mandated the use of multiple sources.
In addition to being the most diverse and inclusive list available, the new updated Jury Pool master lists are also the most accurate, reducing the amount of returned mail and saving counties time and money.
The list uses data from the state Department of Revenue and Bureau of Motor vehicles, so anyone who drives, has a state ID card or pays taxes is included. The updated list eliminates duplicates and corrects addresses and was also matched against Indiana State Department of Health records to remove the names of citizens who are underage or deceased. Those who are not U.S. citizens, according to records at the Department of Revenue and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, were also removed from the list.
Project partners included:

• Indiana Supreme Court
• Indiana Division of State Court Administration
• Indiana Jury Committee
• Indiana Judicial Center
• Indiana Supreme Court Judicial Technology and Automation Committee
• Indiana Department of Revenue
• Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles
• Indiana Criminal Justice Institute
• Indiana State Department of Health
• Purdue University
• Jury Administrators from Allen, Henry, Hamilton, Huntington, Lake, Lawrence, and Marion counties

The master lists are available to counties on CD-ROM and can also be formatted to send jury summonses and make mailing labels. Each county Jury Pool master list will be updated annually to ensure continued accuracy.
For more information, contact Michelle C. Goodman, Staff Attorney, Indiana Judicial Center at (317) 232-1313.

New Version of Award-Winning Jury Pool List Now Available

 

[IndyGunworks]

I have been following your posts on this forum since I joined in April. You talk a lot about freedom and rights and how we are being deprived of those rights and our freedom is being eroded. One of our most basic constitutional rights is to be tried by a jury of our peers. In order for this system to function it requires the voluntary commitment and cooperation of all citizens. By failing to answer the call to serve just as those who have the right to vote and do not,you have disenfranchised yourself. You have therefore made yourself very much a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution. You are very fortunate that others including your contemporaries sleeping in a miserable tent or hole in the ground tonight in the middle of some Godforsaken desert or frozen mountain area or serving on a jury downtown tomorrow are carrying your weight. You are obviously not up to the task.

well said. Its our duty and the right thing to do. avoiding it w/out good cause is unpatriotic.

 

[IndyBeerman]

Clearly there are enough real Americans like you who are willing to do their duty. That being so, let children like me go to my real job and make my money while you volunteer to play jury and cast your judgement upon strangers.

It's not casting judgment upon a stranger, it's casting judgment upon what is presented in the case. You cast you vote on what they did, not the person. I hope you never do anything that gets you a jury trail and get someone with an attitude like yours.

That said, I've only been called for jury duty once and it was back in 1982 when I was 20 and had just moved into my mom's house to get back on my feet from losing my job because of it closing down.

It was a adult neglect case involving a care giver and the deceased oldest son and the charges was I think if I remember right involuntary manslaughter. It was in Morgan County Superior Court and there was 10 seated when they got to me and the judge wanted to speed things so he announce all who are not property owners please raise your hand. Mine shot up and about 15 others and he annouced your excused, please report to Circuit court. By the time I got there it was filled and I was excused to leave.

That was the only time I was ever called on, 43 years living in Morgan County. Still not been called for here in Hendricks.

I'm just glad that if I am called to jury duty that my employer will make up the difference while serving. +1 to them for doing that.

 

[JDonhardt]

I have been following your posts on this forum since I joined in April. You talk a lot about freedom and rights and how we are being deprived of those rights and our freedom is being eroded. One of our most basic constitutional rights is to be tried by a jury of our peers. In order for this system to function it requires the voluntary commitment and cooperation of all citizens. By failing to answer the call to serve just as those who have the right to vote and do not,you have disenfranchised yourself. You have therefore made yourself very much a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution. You are very fortunate that others including your contemporaries sleeping in a miserable tent or hole in the ground tonight in the middle of some Godforsaken desert or frozen mountain area or serving on a jury downtown tomorrow are carrying your weight. You are obviously not up to the task.

Maybe I havent been paying attention, but I dont think I talk much about our eroding freedom. But I suppose we all perceieve things differently. A lot of times, I'll simply play devils advocate and "argue" some side of something for the sake of presenting another side. If you want my real opinion on it, I'll share it with you now. My life has only gotten better year after year. This is due to my own actions. All this political talk is theoretical only. I dont think I ever see any actual, tangible difference in my life because of some policy or other. When it comes to jury duty, I'd rather make money at work than go help out some stranger. That stranger shouldnt help me in return - do unto others... Until I learn to rely on strangers for my well being instead of standing on my own two feet, I'll continue feel that way. Maybe I need to be wrongly accused of a crime so that I can be as patriotic as you.

Also, I'd like to thank you for bringing up the part about being thankful for those sleeping in some god forsaken tent in Iraq. I love the argument that if there were no war in Iraq, our freedoms wouldnt exist. Suggesting that if America were not at war our shores would be invaded and we would be overrun by terrorists is absurd. So lets thank our soldiers for keeping our cities safe from invasion - whatever. I'm not trying to be a d*ck to any military personell. If someone wants to join the military, go ahead. Thats great. But dont try to sell me this crap that I would be in immediate danger should we pull the troops out of *where ever they may be at the moment.

I've heard some people talking about how this forum has gone down hill lately. Well I havent been around that long, but it seems to be to be just another internet forum, full of the same old internet people as every other forum. I'm sure some of the "old timers" here with thousands and thousands of posts will attribute the decline of this forum - at least partly - to youngsters like me, if not me in particular. My free speech doesnt sound like their free speech, so I'm bringing it down. Whatever. Sheep (sheeple) come in many forms: some of them are falling in line to the tune of liberal speak. Others are falling in line to the tune of right wing ideas.

I hate the internet. I'm not coming back to this forum.

 

[christman]

Personal experience:

Sent to wrong Courtroom upon asking the clerk where they wanted me to be upon arrival. Went to the other courtroom I was told to go to and they sent me back to the original one after making me sit in a room of another jury selction for nearly 1.5 hours. I was like wtf. But didn't get upset with the clerk that sent me on a wild goose chase. She then walked me into the end of jury selection I was supposed to be at.

Judge grilled me for someone elses incompetence. Citing that I got the paperwork in the mail and there was no way they forgot to put what courtroom it was supposed to be in. I of course didn't bring it with me when I told him he was wrong nicely. So even though the jury was already picked he ORDERED me to show up for the entire proceedings as an alternate/guest and I had to sit beside him for 6 days --Or take contempt of court and sit in jail 3 days. (I should have sat in jail, but couldn't because of my employer at the time and its circumstances.)

The very next day I brought the paperwork which did NOT show what courtroom to come to and he told me it was no longer relevant as the case has already started and I was stuck there for the entirety. I was so pissed. Once the case was over. He asked me how I liked being his "special guest" and I told him I'd make sure everyone I knew heard about it. Luckily he was brought up on charges a year later for unethical contact with a former juror while they were both on an active trial together and he resigned before it got any further in the public eye.



Long story short. They can do wtf ever they want at the time you are there. Call your lawyer if you really want to fight it. Or sit in jail for contempt. Sad part was, that I was looking forward to being on the jury, but instead didn't get any of the perks (Food,motel), nor did I get to decide the person's fate. LAME.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

What could happen? Contempt of court, jail and/or a fine.

I've only seen it happen once and that was for someone who missed several dates. The judge gave him the option of watching a trial or going to jail--he chose to watch the trial.

I do not know what happens in Marion County as a regular matter.

I was called once in Marion County while in undergrad, but only sat in the pool until noon. I've been called twice in Tippecanoe County and was struck both times.

Remember, a subpoena for jury duty is a court order, not a court suggestion.

 

[theweakerbrother]

When they contact you, call in and let them know that you'd love to serve. They'll never call you again.

 

[tenring]

I am a little hard of hearing. If someone doesn't mumble and I am looking at them while they speak clearly I don't have a problem hearing them. But if English is their second language or they don't speak loud and clear I can miss things. I have gotten a couple of summons the last couple years from Lake County and I replied that I was disabled. I was turned down for enlistment in the In. National Guard because I can't here some of those beeps in the hearing test. Might be from the ear infections while I was a kid or from working on jets while I was in the Marine Corps. I would like to serve on a jury duty but i don't know if there is anything for the hearing impaired that could allow them to be on a jury, like some kind of a plug in head seat. I tried calling and asking but couldn't get through to a human, so I just sent their form back to them that I am disabled. I have never had to answer or prove why. So if you get summoned respond that you are disabled.

Get enrolled in the VA system, at the same time file for disability, showing your SRB and MR that you worked on jets, 10% disability at $123 bucks a month, free hearing aids, and a bunch of other bennies.

 

[phylodog]

My life has only gotten better year after year. This is due to my own actions.

This is in part due to your own actions. The same actions you have taken would not have gotten you where you are today had you taken them in China, Iran or the former Soviet Union. You keep mentioning your age so perhaps you're not yet capable of understanding that the reason you are able to succeed is entirely dependent upon our society and our country. Both of which are protected and defended by the legal system which you have no desire to participate in, and the men and women in uniform whether you recognize their role or not.

As stated, your position is an entirely selfish one which puts you right smack in the middle of the majority in this country. It's all about you.

Hopefully time will demonstrate to you the error in your thinking.