I just got a letter from the State of Hawaii Jury Pool Office. I have to report for jury duty 2 weeks before Christmas Eve. I'll only be paid for quite less than what I'm use to seeing from my real job's pay check. I don't know if my job would compensated me for serving a public duty. But I'll ask any way. If not, then I might be financially strapped to pay for bills and Christmas gifts. Suddenly I feel the shaft of Jack Frost.

Most employers will cover the difference. Back when I worked for a government contractor I did jury duty one time. I was taken out by the plaintiff's attorney during voir dire, jury duty complete, all of 15 minutes. Once I went independent and there would be no paycheck if I stopped to do jury duty, I got out of it due to financial hardship. Don't know how HI laws are regarding jury duty, employer compensation and financial hardship.

In the States (Hawaii NOT excluded of course, but it is not part of the mainland), employers must continue your paycheck. I think anyway, don;t hold me to that. There may be some exemptions that I'm unaware of.

Jury duty is not only a "duty", it's interesting and fun. If you're really adverse to serving, you might get lucky and not even get picked out of the pool. Or...you may get picked for a case and the Defendant will plead before it goes to trial. You could even get picked for a civil case - they can be interesting too. Sometimes not getting picked puts you back into the pool, but many people called for jury duty never even serve. If you're concerned about the Holiday, don;t worry.....Governments take the Holiday off, and usually several days before and after.

My profession is federal law enforcement and you might think I wouldn;t like jury duty because it would be boring or something. Not so. I enjoy it. My best duty ever was serving on the Grand Jury (NM State) 2 years ago for 3 months. I loved it!

When I was in San Diego, I served on a civil case. Short story: A bicycle rider was attacked in the street by a dog. He beat the dog with the bicycle pump. The dog's owner came out and a fight started. THe owner wanted compensation for injuries to his dog and some other stuff. We found for the bike rider in this case.

If you never served before, I recommend *hoping* you'll get picked. My guess is you'll have fond memories of it later on down the road.

Most employees will not dock your pay. I had one once who deducted the $9 a day from my check. Since I am now an owner I pay myself. Since 2000 I've been called 4 times. Once I was dismissed because I knew the defendants. Twice I lucked out and didn't get picked. The one time I served it was for a case of a brutal armed robbery. Trial lasted 4 days. Two defendants; the first we found guilty in about 2 minutes. The second one we deadlocked on for 7 hours. This was in July and all but one person wanted not guilty on the second guy. Mostly based on their desire to go on vacation. Finally convinced the holdout (me) to let the guy off. (Seen the movie 'Nine Angry Women'?) Got done at midnight; the balif said we set a record for latest deliberation.

It is interesting and very serious business (at least to me) but one thing is true, no one tells the truth, at least not the whole truth.

I asked a family member that is a payroll clerk for our local county government, and she said that on your Jury Duty card, there will be a person and their number for you to call with questions, usually called a "Jury Commission Secretary". Since it varies from state to state, they will be the one to ask about your local rules.

In our state, your employer must pay you your normal salary, but then you have to refund to them whatever you were paid for Jury Duty.

PS, if you get called for Jury Duty, get ready and read up! www.fija.org

can't you duck out of jury duty? Can't you give them an excuse?

Just curious about what compensasion you get if you're in a service profession (waiter, waitress) or an independent contractor, or run your own business?

Many people try to get out of jury duty, and succeed.

But, ask yourself: if I were the defendant, would I want 'real' people in the jury, or just the dregs?

And I strongly second the advice to contact the Fully Informed Jury Association. They have some really interesting information for free. What you see on TV is not the real deal, and there are quite a few common 'misconceptions' about being on a jury.

Sue

here in ventura county, california, i got $15 per day and 34¢ per mile, one way from the home to the courthouse beginning on day two and for any additional days of service.

i run my own business. was able to do it. cellphone paid off.

here you can sit in the jury pool room for 8 hrs and if not called, game over. or be "on call" for five days - checking in nightly for the following day.

i have always done my one day - reading, visiting, catching up on bills, etc.


bsmith

"...We found for the bike rider in this case..."

Good for you. Was the dog a pit bull???

You have to report. Most people get turned down.

I remember when I was called- I'm not sure which side was in a bigger hurry to get rid of me. *scowls*

I can't remember what kind of dog it was, but I do know it wasn't a pit bull. That I would've remembered. The bike rider wasn;t hurt badly, nor was the dog. BUT, when the home owner came out, there was a fist fight and he got the worst of it. Anyway, it boiled down to two things: reality and credibility. Reality because the dog should've been confined to the property and credibility because the homeowner had none.

I'll bet you said you believed in the death penalty thats what I do.

The Judge will always ask if anyone simply cannot serve. Then you get a chance to plead your case to the judge. SOmetimes what we think is a good reason for not serving they think is BS, and politely decline to dismiss you.

Everybody (me included) always thinks of going in there and, when asked, coming up with some smart remark about how everybody's guilty and whatever happened to a good old hanging and so on, hoping that neither side will want you. You get there though and find yourself among peers and people from all corners, and you realize some of them would make good friends, etc etc. You know, it becomes a social situation, so all those thoughts of smart-ash remarks go out the window. It could be done though....but you'd have to be good at it.

Actually, I do believe that a properly utilized death penalty is a good thing, but we have to have a justice/legal system that actually works, first. As the situation stands, the jury pool in nearly every case isn't just contaminated, it is toxic and Superfund ready due to preexisting cultural issues.

What got me was I was asked to describe my educational background. My first major was criminal justice, minoring in history and psych, but I dropped it after I discovered I didn't have the right personality. So I switched to computer engineering. For some reason, they didn't think they wanted me on a trial that was apparently based in part of computer evidence....

Then you get Piper's jury of twelve men, good and true. "Who couldn't pour sand out of a boot if the directions were on the heal."

Citizens have rights. For every right, there is a responsibility. If you wiggle out of those responsibilities, before too long, you don't have rights but privileges. I'd rather not have the privilage of a jury made up of people who can't understand what I'm saying- I have a right to a jury of my peers, my social and mental equals, free from preconceptions about my case and with the ability to understand the evidence and reasoning placed before them.

I don't want 12 high school drop outs with room temp IQs in the box. I don't want people whining about how much money they are losing, and just want to get it over with. I don't want some holier-than-though born again pinhead who decides I'm guilty when I look the judge in the eye and tell him that while I won't swear on a religion I don't believe in, I will swear on my honor and on a Constitution that I do believe in. I don't want McJustice, I want the real thing. I want people who while they'd rather be someplace else, are at least going to pay attention and actually examine the situation rationally and logically before coming to a conclusion.

And thus endyth the Civics lesson.

Sorry no can do. But I am trying to request a deferment of service. In other words, postpone my jury duty to another day.

LED, As for compensation, I get $30/day plus travel expenses (gas money). Since I catch the city bus I already have my own bus pass.

I've done jury duty 3 times, and it was always a great experience. My work didnt compensate me the first 2 times, but the place I worked at the 3rd time did.

In all 3 cases, we brought back not-guilty verdicts. We were amazed at the prosecution's lack of competence, especially in the last case I was on, which was a federal trial.

This post isn’t a response to you at all.

I just felt that part deserved to be quoted just so it could appear more than once in this thread. (Yes, it is that good!)

It is something of a sad fact that many people have great decisions that will change their lives made largely by people too dim to get out of jury duty.

It isn't very hard. Tell the judge that you think police are whit knights and invariably right and correct in their judgments. That anyone accused of a crime by a policeman is obviously a crook who deserves the worse punishment the state can met out.

Equally easy to play it the other way.

LEOs are scum who couldn't hold down an honest job or make it as a self-respecting criminal. So they hide behind a gun, badge and attitude and get to play the self-righteous bully who trades threats for all the coffee and doughnuts they can consume. Anyone accused by the state is obviously just an honest citizen who made the mistake of not kissing a LEO's rump.

Either way expressing a intractable bias for or against the law pretty much makes sure you aren't going to be on any jury. It is both simple and easy to get out of jury duty.

That said I have always served when called. I found the exposure to the legal process to be informative and often entertaining. It is also my civic duty. Part of being in a nation of laws and having the right to have guilt or innocence determined by a jury.

Any one of us could be accused of a crime. Just be in the wrong place and time. I don't want to be judged only by those too stupid not to know how get out of it or, ironically, too contemptuous of their civic duty to want to think it right that they should.

IMO you live in a society and owe it at least a nominal compliance to its rules and ideals. Pay taxes, do your duty in service and jury, have an understanding of and participate in the debates of the day, and vote.

I have never been on a jury, and with my background, back back, and shot ears, probably never will. But I have been in more witness stands than I care to remember, and looked many a jurer in the eyes as I testified. I always tried to keep my testimony simple, but I could tell that I was still talking waaayyyy over the head of many of them. So much that more than once I actually felt sorry for the defendant, thinking that the poor sob had his fate in the hands of idiots. We need some "real" people on juries. And then there is that civic duty part...

*laughs*

That is what happens when I get cranky. I come out with some really profound, if slightly irrate, stuff. The public speaking courses and debate club come in handy some times.