When you are above 18 years living in Pennsylvania, there is a high chance that you will be chosen for jury duty randomly. If you are in this situation and saying in your mind “why am I so unlucky?” right now, then your luck just turned up. This will help you in avoiding it, just continue reading. Let us know more “How to get out of jury duty in PA?”.
Jury duty is mainly in a nutshell your duty as a U.S citizen to serve as a juror during court. These can happen in both criminal and civil cases. Your job is to make a vote if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s kind of the power of deciding if the facts presented there in court are enough to deem the defendant guilty. It is a random thing to be selected and sometimes it seems unlucky because you might not want to go or you have a prior appointment. Some of the valid excuses that are acceptable to the court are: Medical Reasons, Emotional/ Mental Instability, Small Business Owner, Child Care, Too Opinionated or assertive, and other appropriate reasons are mentioned below.
Top 10 Get Out of Jury Duty In PA Card
- Medical Reasons
Having medical issues or recovering from one is a very good excuse to get out on the jury. If you have been in an accident, are recovering from surgery, or are not feeling well. You can write that’s why you can’t attend but you will have to bring a doctor’s note to show you aren’t lying.
- Too Opinionated or assertive
Being a juror is all about being fair and not trying to put your beliefs on the case, it’s all about looking at the evidence fairly. If you can’t do it, you will have to voice it and tell them why you can’t be fair. For instance, if the case is a criminal case about a woman who kills her abusive husband and you believe that no man is allowed to hit a woman and that she has a right to defend herself. You can say that you can’t be fair because your beliefs might make you side with the woman without hearing the evidence. This disqualifies you instantly.
- Being Elderly
The maximum age limit for a juror is 75 years in Pennsylvania. If you are at that age or more you can get an age excusal request accepted that will remove you permanently from the list of projected jurors.
- Emotional/ Mental Instability
You can make an excuse that you are going through something emotional and can’t make it. For example, your dad passed away and you are going through a very hard time.
- Full-Time Student
Being a full-time student can be used as an excuse because of the mandated attendance in class. It is a problem because if you take part in the trial and miss an important number of classes, you are in danger of not graduating.
- Relation to the Case/ Conflict of Interest
If you know the defendant or have been in a similar situation to the defendant, it is a good excuse to back out of the trial. For instance, if the trial is for grievous bodily harm and you have a mom or a close relative that has suffered almost the same thing and you can’t be fair about it.
- Small Business Owner
This is an excuse for small business owners, you can state that you are the sole breadwinner of your family. You can also say that you closing down your business during the day for the trial will cause a dent in your expenses especially if you are in financial hardship.
- Child Care
If you are the sole provider of childcare for your child or close relative, you can use that as an excuse. You can say you have to watch the child and can’t afford to pay for a babysitter and you don’t have anyone to take care of the child.
- Line of Work
You can get out of the jury by using your job as an excuse. If you work alongside people like the defendant, you can say you can’t guarantee that you will be impartial. For instance, I work as a deliveryman for the news stations and most of my friends are reporters so I don’t think I can be fair.
- You are Pregnant
You can say that you are having a high-risk pregnancy and that you can’t miss your doctor appointments and you are instructed to have full-time bed rest.
Conclusion
There are a lot of excuses to use in getting out of jury but these ten are your best bet in getting out without getting caught. You don’t need to change or cancel your appointment, you got this in the bag.
Questions
- What will happen if you ignore your jury duty altogether?
It will depend on how many times you did that. You could be held in contempt by the court.
2. Must you go to your former county for jury duty in PA after you have moved?
Well, you can tell them you are no longer qualified to be a juror of that county because you have already moved away from there.
