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…
Hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Paul Christiansen, who caused a mistrial in March by doing his own research on the defendant and disclosing it to other jurors, has been fined $1,200 by a court in Newbury, New Hampshire. Jurors, of course, are instructed not to do…
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a case in Florida in which the plaintiff's attorney had filed a motion to compel defense counsel to wear appropriate shoes. Bill Bone argued in the motion that it was "well known…
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…
Our lead trial counsel has a "lucky tie" that he wears every day (or at least he did during jury selection) even though it's getting a little threadbare. This is a fairly common habit among trial attorneys, and I haven't…
As you may have heard, Michael Jackson passed away recently, and a memorial service for him was held on Tuesday here in Los Angeles. (I am normally located either in San Francisco or in my underground lair, but am in…
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…
Though the fool who does is also taking a chance. the fool who does, probably.