Having to serve on a jury is not really something that most of us would aspire to do. It is a civic responsibility that may be thrust upon you and you may be left searching for reasons to avoid it at any cost. Jurors are typically selected at random from a database of names; this database is compiled using voter registration entries or diver licenses. The potential jurors are then expected to fill out questionnaires following which they are scrutinized by the judges and lawyers prior to the final selection. You are even liable to face a criminal penalty or a civil punishment for skipping a notice to appear in a jury or if you happen to be caught lying to avoid this jury duty. At the same time, there are definitely some excuses which can comfortably get you out off this tricky situation. You can use these jury duty excuses to avoid having to appear at a jury:
- You can state economic hardships to skip the jury duty. You can submit proof of your wages and employment, financial statements and the last year’s tax statements to show that it is not possible for you to skip work. Although exemptions on this ground are rare, it is an excuse that you can use to skip jury duty. However you should not lie about financial crisis because that amounts to a felony and you can then be charged for obstruction of justice.
- When you receive an automated notice to appear on a jury, you can request for a change of date by stating that you are unable to attend the event since you are unwell or are expected to travel out of the town at that time. You can also request for a date change for the holiday season because chances are that a jury at that time will be delayed or postponed and you may not get a call.
- Students can easily avoid jury duty and request for the date to be shifted to their next break because they do not wish to miss their class lectures and assignments.
- In cases where the judge may read out witness names involved, you can always claim that you know them personally and therefore cannot be expected to offer an unbiased judgment.
- Citing medical grounds is one of the most effective ways of getting out of jury duty. You may need to prove your medical condition with the help of a doctor’s note; conditions like migraine or stress are enough to convince the authorities that you are not fit for jury duty. If you can prove that you are not capable of working long hours because of some medical condition or ill-health, you will surely be disqualified.
- In case you are unable to excuse yourself on medical grounds, you can always ask for yourself to be excused because you have to take care of another ailing member in the family.
- You can also fake a hearing difficulty and excuse yourself from a jury duty. If needed, you can also submit documents by a medical professional to support this excuse.