total tangent-jury duty

[[ga...]]

Anybody out there with experience dealing with jury duty? Not for me, for my son. He has high-functioning autism. He recently got frustrated with his therapists and coach, declared he didn't need any help from anybody any more and moved out. Now he is trying to work fast food full time and take classes full time at the local college and learn how to do life. Naturally, he has been stressed, depressed, and overwhelmed.

 

On top of this, he just got a letter telling him to register for the jury pool for this spring. He went online to try to do it. Didn't follow the directions properly and made some mistakes. He tried to correct them and couldn't. I told him he needed to call the number on the letter and ask about that. He has really bad social anxiety and could not bring himself to call the number.

 

So here we sit. He's a nervous wreck worrying about having this on plate now, too. He's very high functioning and good at hiding his disability. But he could never survive the day sitting with strangers and answering questions and then ending up on a jury and having to pay attention and make important decisions. He would zone out and then just agree with whatever he thought would get him out of there the fastest. Or, God forbid, he would do something odd and be held in contempt of court and be put in jail.

 

I told him not to worry about it because probably he wouldn't be called and that calmed him down a bit. Meanwhile, anyone here have any experience in how to get him out of this? The letter he got basically said don't even try, we don't let people out of jury duty unless they're dead. (OK, I exaggerated that but it was about like that).

 

Gard

[[Ch...]]

Does he have a medical professional who understands how difficult this would be for him?  Doctors can sign the forms and excuse you from jury duty in my state.  I had to do this twice over the years, once for surgery, once for a bed-rest pregnancy.

[[ga...]]

Yes, our family practice doctor knows about his disability. In fact, he asked about him recently because he's been a huge stressor to me during my crossover with all this crazy stuff he's been doing.

 

So I would have to get him to call his office and ask him for a doctor's excuse. At least my son knows him so he's not having to ask questions of a scary, governmental stranger. I think I could get him to call his office. Especially if I dialed the phone and handed it to him! And if I wrote down exactly what to say. He does OK if he knows exactly what to expect. I will email him about it right now!

 

(Interestingly, I have never in my life been called for jury duty. Can't imagine how I have been so lucky and he so unlucky. He's so young!)

 

Thanks!

 

Gard

[[Ch...]]

[[be...]]

Is it a Superior Court or a Federal one? Either way, if he could not correct this online then he calls the clerk of the court and says he has Autism. Then they will ask him to get a letter from his doctor and send it to them. I've done this here and just asked my pdoc to write a letter that says I should be excused for life. I was, in both courts, but they court system does not call you (at least here) to tell you so. You have to go call them and ask if you are excused. Remember if he is excused from one court, he will not be excused from the other one until you do the same deal.

Bets

[[ga...]]

Interesting, Bets. The letter came from the county, so I think it's a county/state court. I messaged his doctor about the situation. He just responded that he needs to message him himself so its an official request and then he'll do the form or whatever they want. He called the whole jury idea a big waste of his time since he would just sit around for days waiting to be questioned and then they would dismiss him. He was happy to get him out of that since my crazy son is trying to work full time and go to school full time and live on his own all at once, none of which he has ever done successfully before. He is one stressed guy.

 

Now I just need to get him to message the doctor. Will try for tomorrow since he is now at work until close. He let the darn letter sit around too long and he needs to get on this before he finds himself assigned to a day to show up. I told him not to wait when the letter came, but he is in I-don't-need-help-leave-me-alone mode. So I am treading on thin ice. But that has kind of always the way it has been with him. Darn benzo taper has not helped one bit with this. My son needs quiet and consistency, something that I have not been able to give him since the evil Xanax, poor guy. :'(

 

 

[[be...]]

There are actually three courts. State, Superior and Federal.

 

The fed court involves thing that violate federal law, such as a robbery/kidnapping where the criminal go to another state. Or someone or some organization, sues for something being unconstitutional. Also if someone files suit against the Fed gov. These are generally very long and tedious cases. You want to avoid these like the plague.

 

Here is the difference between Superior and state courts. The state courts are a piece of cake. Superior is for bad news criminals, and the trials can last a while, but not as long as a fed one.

Superior Court is responsible for handling cases involving serious crimes (felonies), civil disputes, real estate matters and family and domestic relations issues.

 

State Court handles civil law actions not otherwise within the jurisdiction of Superior Court, dispossessions, misdemeanors, and certain traffic offenses.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Bets

[[ga...]]

There are actually three courts. State, Superior and Federal.

 

The fed court involves thing that violate federal law, such as a robbery/kidnapping where the criminal go to another state. Or someone or some organization, sues for something being unconstitutional. Also if someone files suit against the Fed gov. These are generally very long and tedious cases. You want to avoid these like the plague.

 

Here is the difference between Superior and state courts. The state courts are a piece of cake. Superior is for bad news criminals, and the trials can last a while, but not as long as a fed one.

Superior Court is responsible for handling cases involving serious crimes (felonies), civil disputes, real estate matters and family and domestic relations issues.

 

State Court handles civil law actions not otherwise within the jurisdiction of Superior Court, dispossessions, misdemeanors, and certain traffic offenses.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Bets

 

Well, now I understand the difference. Seems the best one can hope for would be state court trial right? But the letter gave no clue, so the jury pool could be for any of those! Yikes!    All the more reason to get that disability excuse form ASAP!

 

I know this sounds like he's neglecting his civil duty, but nobody in their right mind would want him on their jury! He would be zoned out most of the time and then just go along with whatever seemed like it would get him out of there the fastest. I know my son!

[[be...]]

The letter is required to say which court it is. If it came from your capitol, it's likely a state court. He has very right to be excused. No court wants a member of the jury to be incapable. It would just mess up the trial and no judge wants that. I am not ashamed for being excused for life. Nor should you or your son.