I wouldn't say it was dread but there was definitely an unpleasant sensation in the gut when I spotted the envelope from the county in the mailbox this evening. Ugh. Jury duty. It's been nearly three years since the
last time I spent the morning at the courthouse before being dismissed. I was working through the logistics of obtaining daycare for Monsieur Henry while scanning the summons when I came across this:
Mandatory grounds which the Court must grant if you ask to be excused:
I am a woman breast-feeding a child and wish to be excused from jury service.
Just so happens I am a woman breast-feeding a child. Guess who will be checking that box and shirking her civic duty.
Yeah. That'd be me.
4 comments:
Maybe you're shirking, but isn't ensuring the well-being of the future citizens of the US just as important? You tell them you're nursing out of a sense of civic duty and patriotism.
Last time I got such a notice? I had one school age daughter (with no day care for), one undergoing chemo (who wasn't in school and I was her caregiver) and that was the week that we were scheduled for our Make A Wish trip! I got the postcard back literally the next day.
I got my first right after I had my first and was nursing her too and that was before the automatic exemption, so I had to write a letter and luckily got a 'benevolent' judge.
I've been "asked" 3 or 4 times, each time happend to be while I was in Eugene "furthering my education" (read: supporting local bars). One call to say I was in school in another city, 2 hours away, and I was out. Haven't been asked back since!
I got stuck last fall. Totally out of kindnesses from the court and could not (at my age???) claim being a breast-feeding woman as an excuse.
I went in confident that I would be shown the door quickly if chosen for a jury selection. This was Tuesday. I was leaving the country Friday. Besides, I am a member of the media and who the hell wants THEM??
I was summoned to a courtroom before lunch. We were all interviewed, the case explained, yadda, yadda, yadda. It took until 4:50 before I got the golden kiss off. Course, there was a vocal exchange with one of the defense attorneys and the judge over my being unable to NOT remember the defendant wouldn't take the stand in his own defense. (like he woulda had a shot -- 35 counts of forgery, ID theft, burglary, etc. The evidence took up the whole back end of the courtoom!!!)
So, I'm good for three years -- the hard way!
Post a Comment