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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tarchon" data-source="post: 2425203" data-attributes="member: 5990">You have to attend if called - it's a fairly serious offense if you don't. The precise method of selection varies with the particular jurisdiction (court authority); usually it's random selection from voter registration or automobile registration lists. A certain pool of prospective jurors is selected and the judge usually does a preliminary screening - they generally kick off lawyers among others. Many people try to weasel out of jury duty at this point, but most judges will go to great lengths to justify keeping you on, and any excuses are examined very, very carefully. The only thing I saw that worked was one Vietnamese guy who pretended not to speak English, and they just sent him back to the jury room to sit for another couple days (he was pretty lucky not to get cited for contempt of court by the judge). Then the attorneys for each side get to use a certain number of what are called "preemptory" challenges, in which they can reject a certain juror for no particular reason, although there are certain exceptions to this. Once they use up the preemptory challenges, they can have people rejected for cause, which would generally be some sort of bias or conflict of interest, though generally the judge has already rejected jurors with obvious cases of that, like if you're related to one party or the other, or you happen to have some special knowledge of the case. Many times, the trial doesn't even take place, and most trials don't last more than a few days, but occasionally someone (like me) gets on a case where the opposing parties have lots of money to spend on lawyers or the case is particularly complex, and those can drag on for weeks or months. In the worst case, the jurors aren't actually allowed to return home during the trial and are sequestered in a hotel somewhere to avoid bias - this is usually done in high-profile cases like the Jackson trial.Sometimes it's a pretty minor inconvenience, but putting someone in a courtroom 35 hours a week for 4 weeks is a pretty major life disturbance. You can't legally be fired for serving on a jury, but if you have a high-responsibility job it can be a bit sticky.</blockquote>

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