[NullMatrix]

Sadly I was summoned after having just moved to a new county.

Same thing happened to me... twice.

 

[brownie2]

If you want to serve and never have, let your clerk of court know.
I've got traverse duty in June again. I'm 41 and been on the grand jury three times, served on two trials, and been called so many times I've lost count. I normally don't mind too much. It just makes me angry that lots of folks never get called but I do all the time.

 

[Scout706]

. . .Question: if you're selected as a potential juror, do you have to answer questions from the court? Could you just say that you're exercising your right to remain silent and not answering any questions? Obviously you wouldn't get chosen if you did this, but do you have the right to do so or is there a "juror exception" where the state can force you to answer questions?

I knew someone that had a sealed juvenile conviction, and did not want to mention it in open court. You can ask to speak to the judge privately, or with both lawyers present (in chambers?).

 

[RebelCowboySnB]

If you want to serve and never have, let your clerk of court know.
I've got traverse duty in June again. I'm 41 and been on the grand jury three times, served on two trials, and been called so many times I've lost count. I normally don't mind too much. It just makes me angry that lots of folks never get called but I do all the time.

It was not a random pick in Ga for a long time.Someone somewhere though you made a good choice. Grand Juries were almost always well known community members like school teachers.

About 2 years ago it finally became a random pick out of the DL database.

 

[gsusnake]

Only times I've been called were recent, and I was dismissed immediately once they found out what I do for a living, when I called back. The clerk said they didn't want to take emergency workers off the job.

Kind of a shame, I wanted to serve.

 

[MewsicLovr]

I was on a murder case once a few years back. For that summons there was an initial multiple page questionnaire, I think mostly regarding our affiliations if any with the witnesses, and regarding some pointed questions that would become relevant with the trial. I don't remember if it asked specifically about organizations. I passed that and then we had a "one" on one with me and the attorneys/defendent/judge/reporter where they asked some more questions, basically to find out if I would judge fairly and whatnot which I said I would.

The guy was totally guilty and they had a confession on tape. His argument was "he didn't mean to do it" and that his accomplice made him do it. We didn't buy it. Most of my fellow jurors from what I remember were pretty level headed and we didn't go by gut feel. We were considerably more divided on his actual sentence (death or life) but he ended up getting life.

 

[Craftsman]

A few years back I just missed being on a jury for a home-invasion, rape, murder trial. I was numbered in the low 70s and they filled the jury about 6-8 people ahead of me. The process was we the jury got asked a series of generic questions. Positive/negative experiences with LEO, were we ever a victim of a violent crime, did we know of the case, etc. Anyone who answered "yes" raised their number (we were given numbers to hold). We were then brought back in groups of 12 and questioned individually. About every third person could have had an entire episode of Oprah or Jerry Springer dedicated to them. People are flat out crazy.

My only complaint is the judge "did us a favor" by bringing us in on one Monday to tell us to prepare for a 4-6 week trial, then let us go until next week. She cost me an extra travel week of work. That plan might help people with a regular job, but it kills folks like me. Especially when I have to travel an hour to get to downtown Atlanta. (Insert Milton County rant here).

 

[CoffeeMate]

(This is a true statement)

People are flat out crazy.

 

[phantoms]

Wow, y'all be getting rich out there. If I can remember correctly, Chatham pays $5-$10 a day.

I served on one jury a few years ago where the defendant was sentenced to life without parole. I have jury duty next week (short week because of Memorial day). First jury duty in a few years since serving on that jury, although I don't know if that's the reason it's been so long or not.

Finished my service yesterday evening having served on another Jury with the same sentencing result. Superior court here pays $10/day unless you serve on a Jury, then it's bumped up to $20/day.

From the Jury Clerk explanations:

It was stated that I now have a year off (use to be two) from duty for having served on a jury. It was also stated that they use to collect the jury pool names from voter registration, but now they also collect it from Driver's Licenses, State Licenses (didn't clarify if that included GWCLs), etc. They also run in 3 month batches, 3 months in the pool, 3 months out of it.

One last thing for those that say they think they get picked for jury duty too often. With them collecting names from many different sources, they occasionally have your name duplicated. If you feel that it's possible more than one instance of your name is in the pool, call the Jury duty clerk and ask them to check.