Sign and return your summons to the Court’s Clerk before your date of service, or at least contact the Clerk to see if you can claim disqualification or exemption without having to appear.
In case you didn’t know, your seating arrangement during jury selection is very important. The closer to the front you are seated, the more likely you are to be seated on the actual jury panel. Jury selection is actually more about de-selection than selection.
Therefore, if no one is dismissed for a good reason, then the first twelve people sitting closest to the front will automatically be seated on the jury to hear the case.
This is the big one. When people ask about excuses to get out of jury duty, then they’re usually asking about what to say that will get them dismissed.
If you are trying to get out of jury duty, and you can’t claim disqualification or exemption, then your only option is to be labeled as biased. At the beginning of jury selection, the attorneys will ask you questions to try and determine whether anyone is biased.
The fastest way to get out of jury duty is to speak up and answer every question that applies to you. Being quiet during jury selection is the fastest way to get on a jury. So, don’t be shy if you want to get out of jury duty!
For example, if you have a friend or family member that is a police officer, then you might believe that police officers are always truthful and give the testimony of a police officer extra credibility.
If your trial is a breach of contract case, and you believe that contracts are against your religion, then your views may be biased in favor of one side and against the other. There is nothing illegal about having a bias, it just means that this trial may not be the best one for you to sit on as a juror.
If you have a bias for, or against, a police officer, then that wouldn’t matter in a breach of contract case if no police officer is expected to testify.
The important thing to remember is that you must speak up and tell the truth. Don’t fake a bias by saying that you can’t be fair, that you won’t apply laws that you don’t believe in, or that you’ve already decided in your head which side should win based on looks.
However, if those things are true, then you definitely need to speak up because those are great reasons to get out of jury duty.
Matthew Harris Law, PLLC – Civil Litigation Division
1101 Broadway, Lubbock, Texas, 79401-3303
Tel: (806) 702-4852 | Fax: (800) 985-9479