Reasons you may be excused from jury service include: You have no means of transportation. You would have to travel an excessive distance to the courthouse. You have a physical or mental impairment. You provide care for a dependent and cannot afford to have someone cover for you.
Active Duty Military. Full Time Students. Non-accommodating Medical Conditions. Individuals who served less that ten years ago with the State Court (this excludes Federal Court)
Peremptory challenges had a long history in both England and America before the Revolution, and the purpose of peremptory challenges was to allow elimination of a particular juror without reason.
What are some of the best excuses people have used when they didn't want to show up for jury duty? You are not fluent in English. You are disabled, evidenced by a physician's attestation. You are hospitalized, again evidenced by a physician's attestation.
During voir dire, either attorney may ask that a prospective juror be dismissed if he or she reveals information that might indicate a bias. For example, if someone were a relative of the plaintiff or defendant.
For example, write something like “My name is Jane Doe. On (date), I received a jury summons for (court date) at (court address) and was assigned the juror number (insert number here). I am writing to request to be excused from jury service because being absent from work would pose an extreme financial hardship.”
That's up to the court, but there are a number of grounds for excusing a person from jury service or postponing the service. “Hardship” is one, and that could include lack of transportation, excessive travel, extreme financial burden, undue risk to physical property, and being over 70.
Medical conditions, deafness, difficult sitting for long periods, people who know the defendant or officers, people who've been victims of crimes, financial hardship, and more will be excused. Depending on the county, they might call 100 people to select just 12.
U.S. citizens at least 18 years old who are residents of the court district to which they are summoned. The jury pool for each court comes from a list of licensed drivers and state ID card holders in the court's district. Those who have been convicted of felony crimes are not eligible for jury service.
Prospective jurors are put under oath when they are questioned (subjected to a void dire examination), so any prospective juror who lies could be prosecuted for perjury (a five-year felony in federal court).