International Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Just curious...jury duty
Have you ever been called for jury duty? Did you go or did you get out of it? Do they have jury duty where you live now and are you expected to participate?
Ive only been once. I think I was 18. I went into the courtroom but they didn't pick me for the jury and then they sent us home by like 9:30am.
Re: Just curious...jury duty
I've been called twice since living abroad. My mom had to call our courthouse and tell them I'm living abroad and there is no way I can make it.
I'm not sure if Switzerland has jury duty? DH has never mentioned it...
I could register to vote at 17, because I would have been 18 before the next scheduled election. I registered in April, my 18th birthday was in August. I was called for Jury Duty in June. Since then, I have been called every 2 years -- which is how often anyone can be called.
I only made it out of the Jury Pool room once, and they selected the final person for the jury as we were in the elevator going to the 7th floor. It was nearly 7 pm and the Judge kept the group of us for another half hour lecturing us about how we need to do our civic duty.
I have never been called for Federal Jury Duty, only State, and the Parish I lived in used the "One Day/One Trial" system. Other Parishes are every other day for a month.
I never have but my mom has been called multiple times and each time she has been chosen and has gotten murder/drug/conspiracy cases that lasted weeks and really affected her a lot. She to this day won't speak about either of them they freaked her out so much.
I do know one was a young mother who was a drug dealer in some project in Northern Virginia who hired a hit on her competition, dealt drugs out of her house while her kids were there, had people beaten up in front of her kids, etc etc etc. I'm pretty sure that is why it upset my mom so much (besides the fact that like 4 people were killed).
The other one she was on was another drug/murder case and they went through weeks of trials until all of a sudden, a witness said something on the stand, the judge immediately whisked the jury out of the room, and a mistrial was called before my mom could even figure out what was going on.
I was called for jury duty once when I lived in Michigan - it was about 15 years ago now. I did serve on a trial and I loved it, but it helps that it was a drug related trial that only lasted 3 days and we weren't sequestered or anything like that so no murder or really horrific evidence to hear.
Only citizens get called for jury duty here, so nope I am not expected to at this point.
Nope! I can work anywhere and pay my taxes but no voting or other participation in the judicial system. It's ok, I am not torn up about it lol
In California you don't have to be registered to vote to be called. I think they go from DMV records.2 of my friends were called and neither were registered to vote (don't get me started on that).
I was called once (living in Ohio where it is off of the registered voters list) but the date I had to start was during my first week at a new job and I had mandatory training. I sent a letter and was excused.
I've been called before, but the wrong county called me.
95% of the people who live in the town my parents' house belongs to (they live in the country) live in county X, but my parents' house is just over the county line in county Y. County X called me for jury duty. Even if it had been the right county I couldn't have served, though, since I was away at college at the time.
In Germany they don't have juries. For some cases they have citizens who sit in and help the judge come to a decision after the trial is over, but those people are elected and serve for a couple-year time period. The only reason I know that is because my MIL was once proposed to be one (pastor's wife). The election idea was too stressful for her, though, so she turned it down. For any serious cases, 3 judges preside and decide, no regular citizens.
I was called for jury duty when I was 19. I went into the courtroom and when the lawyer asked who thought he was guilty, I raised my hand. Then the lawyer said, you do know he's innocent until proven guilty. They picked me for the jury anyway and then we took a break for lunch. When we came back they had settled so we got to go home.
I've been called three times. The first time, I called the night before and the recording said it was canceled the next day. The last two times I've been living overseas and my dad lets them know that.
DH is 35 and has never had a jury duty notice. (He's registered to vote in WA and I'm registered in FL.)
I haven't, although I'm fairly sure that if I were called, I wouldn't be selected.
My DH has been called twice since we moved to the UK, which is really stressful for him (even though all he has to do is tick a box and send it back).
Chronically hilarious - you'll split your stitches!
I wrote a book! Bucket list CHECK!
http://notesfortheirtherapist.blogspot.co.uk
Me too. I've never been called and will probably never get the chance living abroad, but I've always been so curious what it's like.
As for being registered to vote, you don't have to be registered to be called in MA either. They do it that way so people won't not register to vote to avoid jury duty. I think that's smart.
Chronically hilarious - you'll split your stitches!
I wrote a book! Bucket list CHECK!
http://notesfortheirtherapist.blogspot.co.uk
That's why I was glad that the Parish I lived in had the One Day/One Trial Jury Duty system -- each person called served for one day or the duration of one trial. And since employers have to pay you for one day of Jury Duty Service, it was very rarely an issue for anyone.
As I said, I was called every other year from when I was 17, 10 times over 20 years. Other than the first time because I was too young, I never got out of it. And only once did I make it out of the Jury Pool Room, and then I was subjected to a half hour long lecture on doing my civic duty after 7 pm and when the jury had already been selected for the trial in question.
I think most people get out of it with flimsy excuses, but the system is set up to make it unappealing to serve on a jury or show up for Jury Duty. I know I joked with my parents (also called every other year for service) that Jury Duty meant I got to test out 3 different varieties of uncomfortable chairs and hear the tv better in the ladies room than in the jury pool room.
The idealist in me agrees with you, but the jury duty server in me knows the system is set up to make people want to skip it.
I've been called twice. The first was right after I moved out of state, so I just had to write them back that I'd moved. The second was a two-week horrific homophobic assault trial. With a whole dollop of multiple personality disorder thrown in just to make things even more insane.
It was horrible. I cried a lot. Even though we weren't sequestered, you're not allowed to talk about it. Not even with the other jurors. So you spend two weeks being subjected to this gut-wrenching testimony and horrible photos and you just have to sit around and take it. I guess you're supposed to internalize it or something, but by the end of the second week, I was a wreck.
I can't imagine doing a murder, because hearing about a scrawny little guy being drugged and beaten by a group of football players and whipped with an electric cord was enough brutality for me.
Shiiiiiiiiiiiit
Chronically hilarious - you'll split your stitches!
I wrote a book! Bucket list CHECK!
http://notesfortheirtherapist.blogspot.co.uk
I got called once and had to attend every day for a week but never got on a jury. Got called out of the jury room once and someone objected to me. Another case the judge told us what the case was and that if any juror called was from a particular area they were to tell the judge (in his ear, not open court!) and were excused... the possibility of intimidation/harassment in that case was very high!
Around the same time both my parents and my sister all got called too and although we live in the same city we were not registered in the same electoral region so don't know how that happened.
A friend of mine was on a jury for a murder and it lasted a fair few weeks and they were sequestered only while deliberating. But she is now excused from ever having to serve again.
I am not American so I can't be called there and I don't think SA does jury duty, but here in the UK I can be called. Because I am a common wealth citizen I can vote and I can be called for jury duty, but I can't claim benefits or anything because I am not a British Citizen.
Called twice, served twice.
I was a DC resident and not a felon, so that's probably explains it
.
It was an interesting experience. And probably explains why I loath litigation (I'm a transactions girl, or at least I try to be... sometimes I have to litigate, but I hate it).
I'm glad you posted this! After reading the OP I started to wonder what would happen if one of us was called in the next few months. Right now all of our mail is being forwarded to a PO box since we'll be living at the hotel (at first). We would have no idea if we were actually called right now. Before I left CA I meant to give a friend a key to the box to check it occasionally but I forgot!