What about Jury Duty??????? - Montana Owners Club

Glenn and Lorraine · 01-30-2005, 05:10 AM

Lucked out(?) and got called for jury duty.

I was initially called for Jan 14th and as I wanted to go the the RV show I tried to get out of it. Told them I was a fulltime RVer and that I was out of state. She asked when I would be returning. I said not until sometime in early March. Fine she said, we'll see you March 9th at 9 AM.

Apparently in Florida you'll get it postponed but not you won't get out of it.

Montana_2821 · 01-30-2005, 05:48 AM

Your residence is Florida now Glenn? I live in Florida and am gone for the Summer. I've been called in the summer a couple of times and my daughter just sends the form back with a notation that I am out of state. Sure enough I got called later, but not like what happened to you when they gave me a specific date. So far as I could tell I just went back into the pool.

Glenn and Lorraine · 01-30-2005, 12:02 PM

I knew you lived in Kissimmee by your profile. Last winter we stayed close to the Kissimmee area from November until March.
We stayed at Deer Creek, Florida Inn, Rainbow Chase and Secret Lake. This winter we decided to stay in the Pinellas Park/Largo area.

As soon as we went fulltime we became Florida residents. Really had nothing to do with taxes or anything like that. lorraine's parents, niece and now sister live here so it just made sense. We have a Seminole PO box and when we are not in the area the niece picks up the mail, sorts out all the junk and holds the rest until we call her to have it forwarded to us.

rames14 · 01-30-2005, 03:44 PM

Glenn -

Have a great time deciding the fate of the world. At least you will have a lot to talk about with the other jurors. They'll find your tales of travel fascinating.

stiles watson · 01-30-2005, 05:34 PM

Same in Texas , at least in Harris county. You can postpone fairly easily, but get rescheduled.

Glenn and Lorraine · 01-31-2005, 12:52 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by rames14

Glenn -

Have a great time deciding the fate of the world. At least you will have a lot to talk about with the other jurors. They'll find your tales of travel fascinating.

What's to decide? "HE'S GUILTY!" said my neighbor "He must be guilty, why else would they have arrested him?" or "If he's not quilty of this crime he's probably quilty of some other crime he thinks he got away with."
They also tell you if you will be sitting on a civil or criminal case. I drew a criminal case. That could be more interesting than some boring civil suit. I look at it as a learning experience and what the heck I have nothing else that has to be done.
Remember my motto? You know you are retired when you wake up with nothing to do and go to bed with it only half done. Well on March the 9th at 9 AM I finally have something to do and when I go to bed some criminal will be back on the streets

.

sreigle · 01-31-2005, 04:14 AM

Glenn, answer every question that way and guaranteed you'll not do jury time. I was called a couple of times when we had a stick home in Kansas. The only time I was actually on a jury was for a murder trial. That was very interesting.

Parrothead · 01-31-2005, 04:29 AM

Glenn,
Don't bet on it. It ain't gonna happen that fast. You may be there for weeks.

tbhd · 01-31-2005, 05:27 AM

Well good luck with your jury duty. They sure didn't give you much slack time. I've never had to serve because I'm the main care taker of our daughter who has some special needs.

Montana_31 · 02-01-2005, 12:43 AM

My wife was called for jury duty last year (2004). A person is assigned jury duty for the entire year, not just one case. If you get jury duty, you have fulfilled you obligation. She called the number and explained that we were in Pa. and did not intend to be in SD anytime in the near future. They replied that the notice was sent in plenty of time to make arrangements to be there. She explained that we were fulltime and they said they knew that and that there are plenty of us out there but it was part of our duty as citizens of SD. She asked what would happen if she didn't show up and they said a sheriff could be sent to arrest her and we would be responsible for the costs of the expense to track us down. She had to call the Friday before the Monday trial and discovered that she would not be called this time. We traveled to Illinois so that we could be close enough to make it by Monday if she was called. Big fuel expense for nothing.
Now, I have received a jury duty notice for 2005. There is a questionnaire on-line that can be filled out (same as the one mailed to us) that I used. One question was "How long have you lived in SD?" I answered it "I have never lived in SD." Another was "How far from your residence is it to the court house?" I replied "1342 miles" since we are now in Florida. At this time I have not heard back from them, but I'm still waiting. If they choose to select me and not use a common sense, I will change my place of residence to Florida. I can travel here anytime, summer or winter, but I am not going to SD in the dead of winter. Our address in SD is from “My Home Address, Inc. located in Hanson County, Emery, SD, population 243. Does this mean that that are so few eligible residents for Hanson County that they must resort to calling full timers? I spoke with someone who uses Alternate Resources, located in Sioux Falls, as their mail forwarding company and they were called for jury duty. They called to explain their situation, were told that they would be marked as full timers and be excluded. What gives with that?

sreigle · 02-01-2005, 08:53 AM

Bob & Donna, thanks for the info. We are SD residents using Alternative Resources. We have not yet been called to jury duty nor received anything about it. In Kansas, when the notice was received it was for two weeks and we could call each night to see if we were to report the next day. I'm glad to hear Minnehaha county (Sioux Falls) is reasonable about this. Some day we'll have to deal with it. Like you, we're not going there in dead winter. We originally drove up there in Feb, 2003, to become residents. The Falls were gorgeous but were totally frozen in place and it was very cold. We enjoy visiting the area and have found numerous intersting places to visit but will do so in warmer weather! Thanks for the heads up.

Glenn, you have fun on your jury duty.

Bill and Ann · 02-02-2005, 05:14 AM

For some reason, whenever I am called for jury duty and tell them I am a retired Federal Corrections employee, they dismiss me.

Sunshine · 02-02-2005, 06:29 AM

Can't speak about jury duty from a fulltimer's standpoint, but I did get called once. I showed up at the courtroom at the appointed time, along with all the other "chosen ones" and sat through the process of pulling names and listening to acceptance of fate or excuses as to why they could not serve. Breathed a sigh of relief when my name was not called for regular jury duty. Then they started drawing for grand jury, and you guessed it, out popped my name. I was dreading it, but have to say that the experience, at least for me, was very interesting, and I was happy to have "done my duty". Doesn't make sense to me though why they would insist on you having to worry about it if you were over 1000 miles away, and why they would waste the taxpayers' money chasing you down!

Montana_31 · 02-03-2005, 12:02 AM

Sunshine, it's not the tax payer's money they said they would use it is the money from the one they are pursuing that will foot the bill.

Montana_31 · 02-03-2005, 12:21 AM

Bill, I'm a retired public school teacher from Baltimore, you would think that would carry the same weight as a retired Federal Corrections employee. I mean, our jobs are similar as were the imates to the students.

Bill and Ann · 02-03-2005, 02:42 AM

Bob and Donna: Isn't that the truth. My brother and sister-in-law are retired P.S. teachers and would also agree.

Montana_3046 · 02-07-2005, 12:51 PM

Some might think me terrible for posting this....
but I'm going to do it anyway.

Jury Duty....

Was the notice mailed "Certified Mail"?
How do respond to something you didn't get?
When was the last time someone got arrested for not getting, opening, reading or responding to "regular" mail?
How many people live in the USA who are between the ages of 21 & 40

think about this..

Mikes-Lady

Montana_31 · 02-07-2005, 11:40 PM

Our notices came via regular US mail delivery. We don't receive our mail everyday only twice a month. I did not receive my notice until after the time I was supposed to respond to it. If they (jury duty commissioner's office)"...know there are a lot of you out there." They surely don't know or understand about our life style. I too thought about what would happen if I didn't respond. Too late for that, but I'm still waiting for a response to how I filled in my questionaire.

Bob & Lee · 08-17-2005, 07:55 AM

I am getin gready to go to SD and establish residence, was going to Emery because it is closer to colorado and somewhat cheaper, after reading this I wonder if Souix Falls is better to get out of the Duty or is it because you are reg to vote there.. if so wait till the election to reg Hmmmm ?

Bob

adelmoll · 08-17-2005, 09:58 AM

Bob and Lee. We registered in Sioux Falls and personaly went to the DMV to get our plates. Right across the hall was the voters registeration. Since we don't know anything about anybody running in SD since Dreschel (Sp) was ousted we opted not to register until the next election. Right or wrong that was our choice. We did not feel nwe should have anything to say about anyone running a state that we will be in only one nor two weeks a year. But then again, if they want to change all the benefits we get for having a SD address we could change our minds real fast.

Helen

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