Petit Juror

Got a notice for a Petit Juror and it says 2 days/1 Trial. Is this really a 2 day thing or a bait and switch that can send me into the worlds longest civil insurance fraud trial or some such? Never heard the term Petit Juror.

You have to go for at least 2 days for selection process, you could be excused the first day but don't count on it or you could be elected for a Jury in which case you will have to return for a few days a week for a time they will specify which i forget right now. If you're not selected then you're done for at least 3 years.

A petit jury can be seated for either a civil or a criminal case. Grand juries hear criminal cases.

Petit (little) jury as opposed to Grand (big) jury is the type of jury service most of us get called for in NJ. Petit jury service is typically up to two days or one trial. Grand Jury service is typically up to one day a week for up to 19 weeks and may be at the county, state, or federal level.

As a petit juror, you may not have to serve at all. You will be instructed to call the night before to learn whether you are needed. If you do have to report, at minimum, you could be dismissed the same day if you have not yet been selected for a jury and there is little need for additional jurors. At maximum you could be assigned to a jury trial that can go for several weeks. If you are selected for a jury for a potentially lengthy trial, you will be told in advance how long the trial is expected to last and asked if you can serve for that length of time. In most cases, you will need a good reason (acceptable to the judge) to say no and thus be excused.

Can I hijack this thread for a second? I got a grand jury duty notice yesterday (the 19 Wednesdays one). I filled out the online questionnaire and requested to have my date postponed because I am the primary caregiver to 2 young kids and don't have backup. I'm stressing a little because I don't know when I'll hear back from them if my request to postpone has been approved. Does anyone know if a) I'm likely to get this postponed, and b) when they'll let me know? I literally have no other childcare and my children have never had a babysitter (that's a whole other issue altogether, I know), so I need to start planning waaaaaaay ahead if I'm gonna have to do this, even for the one day I have to show up for selection!

I recently got called for grand jury and requested an exemption and was given it no problem.

Most people in every group do not get selected for a trial. But one trial means one trial. It can be of any length. However, in my experience Judges are actually quite reasonable with regards to excusing people if the trial looks to be long.

When I got called for grand jury a few years ago, I called up and explained that i'd be happy to serve as petit juror but grand jury would be a hardship because of the time commitment. I politely made clear that I wasn't trying to get out of serving, just looking to limit the time. It took a bit of conversation, but they ultimately agreed.

I've been called for jury duty a number of times, but have only been picked for a jury once. That trial lasted a day. Interesting experience (though I'm not sure I'd categorize it as "Arts and Entertainment").

afa said:
Can I hijack this thread for a second? I got a grand jury duty notice yesterday (the 19 Wednesdays one). I filled out the online questionnaire and requested to have my date postponed because I am the primary caregiver to 2 young kids and don't have backup. I'm stressing a little because I don't know when I'll hear back from them if my request to postpone has been approved. Does anyone know if a) I'm likely to get this postponed, and b) when they'll let me know? I literally have no other childcare and my children have never had a babysitter (that's a whole other issue altogether, I know), so I need to start planning waaaaaaay ahead if I'm gonna have to do this, even for the one day I have to show up for selection!

I got a grand jury notification in the spring. I told them I was just starting a new job and likely to get fired if I had to take off every Wednesday for 5 months (truth), and was excused. I think you'll be okay.

I just appeared for petit jury on Tuesday. Was assigned to a courtroom for selection in a criminal case, but was excused. Returned to the pool in the main juror waiting rooms for the rest of the day, was not assigned, and was told my service was completed. Did not have to return for day two.

@afa, I recorded a grand jury duty notice awhile back. I explained the same thing you did, primary caregiver, no childcare, etc, and how having to find childcare for jury duty would be a financial hardship. I was excused

Thanks, rob & spontaneous. Did they excuse you based on your online questionnaire or did you get in touch another way?

I only did the questionnaire. They mailed a postcard within a couple days.

I love postcards! Excellent.

As said above you might have to show up for the 1 day selection, but you will be given the opportunity to request not serving before the judge. The judge is a very reasonable man in Essex County anyway. Your excuse is a good one and he only pokes a little for folks with medium good excuses. I had no real good reason not to so I did my Grand Jury time and survived.

Double check and call when your serve date gets close because the admin folks aren't as together or reasonable as the judge in my opinion.

I have to go next week, after several rounds of the primary caregiver excuse. I never had a problem with it. The kids age out after 12, which is reasonable and so now I go.

i was called for grand jury this past summer and not reached. The initial process was very simple. Those reached were asked if they were willing to "volunteer", no reason required if one chose otherwise. If not enough persons in the pool volunteered, then each person was called up again and asked to give a reason why they could not serve. It was up to the judge to decide if the reason was sufficient for the juror to be excused.

@afa, I filled out the form and there was a part to put any extenuating circumstances. I don't recall if it was an online form or a paper one, it was a few years ago. I received a post card informing me that I was excused. Of course with today's mail service being the way it is you probably won't receive your reply until sometime next summer

afa said:
I love postcards! Excellent.

When I deferred jury duty last year I didn't get the postcard until after I was supposed to report. So I trucked my butt all the way there and they told me I had been excused. If you do not get a postcard before the reporting date, call them to make sure your excuse was registered. Or show up there with your kids.... I showed up with a breastpump under teh assumption that they cabnnot make reasonable accompadations.

Thanks for the feedback, all! I'll be crossing my fingers that magic postcard will arrive in our mailbox in the next couple of weeks. If not, I'll dig around and see who I can call...otherwise, I'll have to bring at least one of my children (the rambunctious one, during her naptime no less) with me on that first day. That should be fun for everyone.

There are good reasons to be excused from jury duty; and there are feeble excuses.

Feeble excuses will frequently work, just because the Judge or counsel don't want the person on the panel.

But think, for just a moment: if you were ever charged with a crime, or were a party to a civil suit, would you want a jury comprised of persons who couldn't come up with a feeble excuse.

People complain about jury decisions, but few of us want to do the job.

Some smart guy told me a long time ago, it's easy to get out of jury duty; but you don't get to complain about a jury's decision, ever again.

As I wrote, there are good reasons, and there are feeble excuses which will probably work.

Jury duty is kinda like the draft for military service. I wasn't looking forward to it; and I didn't want to do it when called. It's just the price one pays for living here.

TomR

Tom_R said:
There are good reasons to be excused from jury duty; and there are feeble excuses.
Feeble excuses will frequently work, just because the Judge or counsel don't want the person on the panel.
But think, for just a moment: if you were ever charged with a crime, or were a party to a civil suit, would you want a jury comprised of persons who couldn't come up with a feeble excuse.
People complain about jury decisions, but few of us want to do the job.
Some smart guy told me a long time ago, it's easy to get out of jury duty; but you don't get to complain about a jury's decision, ever again.
As I wrote, there are good reasons, and there are feeble excuses which will probably work.
Jury duty is kinda like the draft for military service. I wasn't looking forward to it; and I didn't want to do it when called. It's just the price one pays for living here.
TomR

These are good points.

I would only add that I have seen situations in voir dire where a prospective juror tries too hard to get excused (eg, claims to have prejudices on both sides of the aisle, or acts like they are being put upon). A few times it backfired badly on them. I saw a judge tell one woman to go back to the jury assembly room and essentially arranged it so that she would be the last person called for another case -- thereby extending her service well beyond what it otherwise would have been.

Most prospective jurors have other things they'd rather be doing. The thoughtful ones realize that this is one of the few times our government needs its citizens to serve in order to make the system work. The constitutional right to a jury trial is an empty right indeed if decent people aren't willing to sacrifice a reasonable amount of time -- when they're reasonably able to do so -- to serve their country.

Cue the National Anthem if you will, but I honestly believe this.

The good thing about serving for a grand jury is that it excuses you from being called for any jury duty for something like 9 years!

BaseballMom said:

Tom_R said:
There are good reasons to be excused from jury duty; and there are feeble excuses.
Feeble excuses will frequently work, just because the Judge or counsel don't want the person on the panel.
But think, for just a moment: if you were ever charged with a crime, or were a party to a civil suit, would you want a jury comprised of persons who couldn't come up with a feeble excuse.
People complain about jury decisions, but few of us want to do the job.
Some smart guy told me a long time ago, it's easy to get out of jury duty; but you don't get to complain about a jury's decision, ever again.
As I wrote, there are good reasons, and there are feeble excuses which will probably work.
Jury duty is kinda like the draft for military service. I wasn't looking forward to it; and I didn't want to do it when called. It's just the price one pays for living here.
TomR

These are good points.
I would only add that I have seen situations in voir dire where a prospective juror tries too hard to get excused (eg, claims to have prejudices on both sides of the aisle, or acts like they are being put upon). A few times it backfired badly on them. I saw a judge tell one woman to go back to the jury assembly room and essentially arranged it so that she would be the last person called for another case -- thereby extending her service well beyond what it otherwise would have been.
Most prospective jurors have other things they'd rather be doing. The thoughtful ones realize that this is one of the few times our government needs its citizens to serve in order to make the system work. The constitutional right to a jury trial is an empty right indeed if decent people aren't willing to sacrifice a reasonable amount of time -- when they're reasonably able to do so -- to serve their country.
Cue the National Anthem if you will, but I honestly believe this.

I agree with Tom R and BaseballMom. I got called for jury service next week and I will need to miss work to attend. Although it is inconvenient, all citizens should perform this civic duty (along with voting in elections)unless there is a really good reason why they can't. I will be the one cringing when people present their flimsy excuses for not serving.

BTW, I served once before in Newark and it was surprisingly well organized.

+1 on all counts

PetuniaBird said:

BaseballMom said:

Tom_R said:
There are good reasons to be excused from jury duty; and there are feeble excuses.
Feeble excuses will frequently work, just because the Judge or counsel don't want the person on the panel.
But think, for just a moment: if you were ever charged with a crime, or were a party to a civil suit, would you want a jury comprised of persons who couldn't come up with a feeble excuse.
People complain about jury decisions, but few of us want to do the job.
Some smart guy told me a long time ago, it's easy to get out of jury duty; but you don't get to complain about a jury's decision, ever again.
As I wrote, there are good reasons, and there are feeble excuses which will probably work.
Jury duty is kinda like the draft for military service. I wasn't looking forward to it; and I didn't want to do it when called. It's just the price one pays for living here.
TomR

These are good points.
I would only add that I have seen situations in voir dire where a prospective juror tries too hard to get excused (eg, claims to have prejudices on both sides of the aisle, or acts like they are being put upon). A few times it backfired badly on them. I saw a judge tell one woman to go back to the jury assembly room and essentially arranged it so that she would be the last person called for another case -- thereby extending her service well beyond what it otherwise would have been.
Most prospective jurors have other things they'd rather be doing. The thoughtful ones realize that this is one of the few times our government needs its citizens to serve in order to make the system work. The constitutional right to a jury trial is an empty right indeed if decent people aren't willing to sacrifice a reasonable amount of time -- when they're reasonably able to do so -- to serve their country.
Cue the National Anthem if you will, but I honestly believe this.

I agree with Tom R and BaseballMom. I got called for jury service next week and I will need to miss work to attend. Although it is inconvenient, all citizens should perform this civic duty (along with voting in elections)unless there is a really good reason why they can't. I will be the one cringing when people present their flimsy excuses for not serving.
BTW, I served once before in Newark and it was surprisingly well organized.

Serving on a jury was one of the most fascinating things I have ever done. We had Short Hills ladies who lunch and Newark moms and everyone in between.. Many of my preconceived notions were shattered by listening to the testimony and seeing evidence (or lack thereof). I certainly would want me or a reasonable facsimile serving on any jury I was being judged by.

Now I get it. I am not only excused from work and getting paid, when I do return mamy of my responsibilities have been taken over and I don't face a huge backlog. But I feel proud and honored to serve my fellow citizen because I can.

When I served I didn't get to hear any interesting cases. I watched crappy talk shows for a day and a half. I was called into one selection, but was one of the first people dumped by the lawyers. On the second day when we were let out for lunch the woman at the desk told me I'd been there long enough and that I didn't need to come back. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but as an employee in a small business I wasn't paid by my employer for my time so losing two days pay really sucked. I received a second jury duty notice only a year later. I appealed that one because you are supposed to be exempt for three years after serving, and I was excused.

My ex went had jury duty when we were married. He didn't bring any money or food because he assumed you were paid your $5 right then in cash (he was book smart, street stupid). When they broke for lunch we went up to the desk and asked for his $5. He said the response was along the lines of a very incredulous "Honey, we MAIL that to you." Not knowing what to do for food he went outside and saw that they were doing a blood drive at ECC. He figured if he gave a pint he would at least get a cup of juice and a Twinkie. But donating took him so long that when they finished he didn't have time for his Twinkie and juice and had to run back to the court house so he wouldn't be late and get in trouble with the court.

We really need professional juries. Yes, they would be paid more than $5 per day, but the would at least be partially offset by not having to do paperwork looking for potential jurors and hunting down a pool and wading through exemption requests and postponements.

spontaneous said:

We really need professional juries. Yes, they would be paid more than $5 per day, but the would at least be partially offset by not having to do paperwork looking for potential jurors and hunting down a pool and wading through exemption requests and postponements.

Sorry, but that's one of the worst ideas I've heard in a while.

weirdbeard said:

spontaneous said:

We really need professional juries. Yes, they would be paid more than $5 per day, but the would at least be partially offset by not having to do paperwork looking for potential jurors and hunting down a pool and wading through exemption requests and postponements.

Sorry, but that's one of the worst ideas I've heard in a while.

Agree. with weirdbeard. In another state I was once called for 2 weeks of jury duty in the local court--one that rarely had jury cases, or so they said. I sat on 3 cases. The juries were comprised of the same jurors in the first two cases. There was the same prosecutor in all three cases and one of the same cops in two. By the third case I became pretty cynical and it was more difficult to believe the testimony of the police.

IMO, people that hear multiple cases would become less objective and soon their decisions would be predictable and automatic. The courts would need to establish definitive rules relating to how long a juror could serve and, if needed, how to fire one!

If I am not mistaken some other countries use professional jurors and have no issues. As far as jurors being cynical of testimony, is that any worse than jurors changing their verdicts to not have a hung jury, not because of compelling arguments but just so they can end the trial and go home