I haven't had a formal category for this until now, but since the hoped-for wave of lawsuits by guests at Louisiana hotels who managed to seriously injure themselves while battling insects has not materialized (it seems to have stalled at…
Here's how this one works: Standard voir dire question: "Has anyone you know ever been convicted of a crime?" Non-standard answer: "I had a close friend in high school who killed 17 people." Resulting statement: "We would like to thank…
Yet another way to get out of jury duty: change your name to "Jesus Christ." Actually, that may not be enough, based on the report this week that Jesus Christ, in this incarnation a 59-year-old woman formerly known as "Dorothy…
A woman in Arlington, Washington, said her husband would not be reporting for jury duty as ordered on June 24, because he had been dead since 2005. Finally, an absolutely ironclad excuse for getting out of jury duty. County officials…
Jury duty may look interesting on TV, but then TV makes it look like it only lasts about ten minutes or so. Even the most interesting case involves a fair number of boring interludes, each of which typically lasts a…
Continuing with the theme of ways to get out of jury service, here's one that was tried in January 2009 by a busy citizen of Gallatin County, Montana. You may want to take this down and copy it onto your next affidavit…
Thankfully, the Chicago Tribune is providing "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of the R. Kelly trial in Cook County, and though this trial will probably teach us many important lessons, the first of them has to do with jury service. Reporter Stacy St….
I'm just now starting to number these, and am going to call this #6. As a quick recap, here are what I am considering 1-5: After Being Asked Whether You Can Be Fair, Pause for a Really Long Time; Have a…