Having a hard time coping with... *gasp* jury duty

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It's required by law, and you will either pay a fine or go to jail if you skip, unless you can get a medical exemption. Judges don't always allow an exemption, if they don't agree that the condition would prevent you from doing your duty, but they do at least have to consider it, so most of the time they do accept them. If you don't think you can handle it, and you can get an exemption, then go for it, but you will have to hurry, as it has to get there before your report in day, or else you will have to hand it in. If you are able to come there to hand it in, then the judge may feel you are able to serve.

I had jury duty once. It was no big deal as far as my Asperger's. It was a bigger problem because of my IBS, but I did go. I spent most of the time in the large waiting room for several days with the others who were called that week. I napped part of the time, and read books the rest of the time. They even had a book shelf with some old books on it. Lots of people read books, newspapers and magazines. Some people had laptops and one person had something that was like a Palm computer that they were using. You should have no trouble using an iPod, cell phone, laptop, or other tech device in the waiting room. However, using any of those things in the court room is a HUGE NO NO!! ! People who do that get cited for contempt, and can get a fine, or even spend the night in jail. It really ticks the judges off when people mess around with tech stuff, including iPods, while they are on a jury. People on the jury are supposed to be paying attention to the case, not playing around with tech devices. If you do get on a case, don't just turn your cell phone to vibrate, turn it completely off while you are in the court room. That vibrate sound can actually be heard, and will be intrusive in that venue. You will also have to turn off the iPod while hearing a case.

In my jury service, I had to show up for several days in one week, and spent them in that waiting room. It was a long time ago, but I seem to remember being called out to a court room twice. The first time I went up with a crowd of others to the court room, where jury selection started. They finished before getting to me, so I was sent back down to the waiting room. Another day they called a crowd of others together, but then said there were too many or something like that, so several of us were left in the waiting room.

I have not had to do this again in a long time, but I have moved a number of times over the years. The jury pool comes from voter rolls and from those licensed to drive, or with a non drivers ID, so most people are subject to jury duty.

My health has gotten worse over the years, so if called again, I would get a medical exemption. Between my sleep apnea, IBS, and other health problems, I would not be able to do a good job of jury duty. They need people who are not falling asleep or spending a lot of time in the rest room.

If you really can't handle it, try to get a medical exemption, but if your doc doesn't agree with you, don't think of jury duty as a problem, think of it as an an educational experience, and an adventure. Bring a book for the waiting room, though.

I don't have an id any more. It expired and I can't get a new one because I don't have enough points. I never voted and if that is how they are finding me it makes me wish I had never bothered registering to vote.

You don't have enough points? I'm not sure what you mean. When we get points on our licenses, it's a BAD thing.

They used to get the stuff from voter rolls, but now it's more ID and driver's license records. I doubt not registering to vote would have prevented you from getting called.

I agree with questor; think of it as a chance to use and let your AS ability to be logical shine.

I never had a license. I had an id from the dmv but it expired many years ago and they won't give me a new one because I don't have enough points. There are various things you need in my state to prove that you are you and each thing is assigned a certain number of points. You need enough proof to add up to 6 points or they won't give you an id. Ironically many of the things on the list that give points to get an id can't be obtained without an id.

Thank you Questor! That was almost exactly what I was looking for ^_^. And thank you whitrabbit as well

I myself would vote not guilty if someone was accused of marijuana possession because I think marijuana should be legal. (However, I'm not sure what I would do if it was large scale possession for sale. I guess I would think through that issue when and if presented with it.)

Interestingly, years ago I read a legal philosopher who used the example of a rubber band. If jurors just have this power and are not told, they will use it when they really need to and thus properly, and the rubber band will be appropriately stretched. If jurors are told in advance, the rubber band in a sense will be over-stretched. Well, maybe. I tend to think people should know things.

i served on one a little over a decade ago, a lower-level drug dealing case [although the defendant was looking at a tough mandatory sentence.]

It was interesting, but very time consuming. We couldn't come to a verdict and they ended up just giving the guy 10 years of probation. It was funny afterward, the judge let us know a lot of different things we could not be told about during the trial---the guy had a previous record, and they'd had a previous trial but could not reach a verdict that time either so I guess the prosecutor finally gave up and offered probation. Also a lot of the arguments the defense attorney had raised were bogus, but for whatever reason the assistant DA didn't pick up on it.

There were a lot of procedural issues with how the arresting officer handled things that created "reasonable doubt" in my mind, so even though I thought the guy was most likely guilty I was okay with voting to acquit. We only had one holdout who insisted the guy was guilty, that was what made us finally give up after a few hours of deliberation.

I can also see why people would probably want a jury trial if they were accused of something, juries can be easily manipulated and often don't listen to the judge's instructions.


It definitely would be hard for someone with AS depending on how they could handle crowds, being on someone else's schedule, and being questioned by attorneys.

In 2002, waiting in the Harris County (Houston) jury assembly room. They kept playing this informational tape over and over again. "YOU ARE NOT AN AMERICAN CITIZEN." That's the thing I saw when I first walked in. It was really annoying and aggravating. It was a tape on replay and that was one of the situations for which a person was not eligible to serve.

And then this lady comes up to the podium and she kind of talks nasty to us, basically saying she just wants to hear excuses if they are really good. Wow. That's kind of not her call to make. (And I also tend to think a written excuse is better. Even if it's something I print up myself on one side of one piece of paper. It's likely to be taken more seriously.)

Then my group is called and we are asked to go downstairs and are asking to stay within this blue area, with chairs, taped off on the floor. Really! And I have not faced this kind of situation since elementary school.

But then things got better. The Harris County Deputy who was to lead us over to the courtroom said there would be a metal detector, told a story about a juror coming through with a gun, I think said even with concealed carry a person could not bring a gun past that point, and said there was plenty of time for someone to make a trip back to their car if need be. That is, he tried to be a decent guy.

And then the judge was a decent person. She said, as jurors, we could take notes, not take notes, entirely our own decision.

If selected, please try and give both defendant and witnesses, or both civil plaintiffs a fair shake. Please try and be alert, centered, compassionate (buddhist approach if that's your style, or something similar), and down the middle.

The last question I have is the following: I take the bus (And even if I didn't >.>). If I am going to be late, do I need to call in to somewhere?

You can call the clerk of the court probably; but I would suggest arriving early. It might help with the anxiety.

If they called me for jury duty I'd just tell them I'm autistic. It's my 'get out of jail free' card.

I've been called a few times, and since my state changed things to where you're on call for a week and only have to go in one day, it's been a long time since I've actually been on a case. The last couple of times I actually went in, I was done after half a day at the most, as the cases that were doing jury selection settled so everyone was dismissed. Once, they tried to call me in twice in a year, but I just mailed back the form saying that I had already served and that was it. There was one time when by Wednesday night, the message said I was done for the year, so I didn't have to go to the courthouse.

The only thing I would suggest is to bring a book to read while you're in the jury room and get there early.