I feel guilty for falsely getting out of jury duty...

[TwixVoy]

I was scheduled for jury duty this coming week. I was planning on going, however tonight I claimed exemption on the jury duty web site by saying I was the primary care taker of a person who was not able to take care of them self. The law here requires that you be the primary care taker.

Technically I am not the primary care taker. (I am the secondary I guess you could say) It is an immediate family member we are taking care of in my house who has stage 4 breast cancer. Today we had to unexpectedly take her to the emergency room for a ruptured appendix. We thought she had eaten something bad for over a day and didn't know what was wrong until we got to the hospital. They had to do surgery.

So now she is still in the hospital and we still do not know what her condition will be the next few days or what we will need to do.

Technically because there is another family member in my house also taking care of her I could have made it to jury duty, however I feel like with not knowing what will happen the next few days it would be too risky. Still I lied on a government form which I have never done before. Should I feel guilty about doing that? I was honestly planning on going it's just that this situation came out of no where and it is occupying too much of my thoughts right now. That is why I am up so late right now.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I think you did the right thing.

It would have been so difficult for you to concentrate on your duties as a juror with this situation hanging over your head.

I really don't think you should feel guilty, not one little bit.

You could call, and ask for a postponement...

:hug:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Don't feel bad -

a situation such as you're in - and I am very sorry to hear what you're all enduring - is precisely why that last-minute exemption exists.

Your primary responsibility is to your family. No one would ever argue with you about that. You're in the clear legally, and you did the right thing. You told the truth.

Don't beat yourself up about this one, my dear. Don't. You could never have given any trial your full attention if you were distracted by worrying about what might be happening at home. The system doesn't want anyone with that kind of burden serving on a jury, honestly.

You did the absolute, without any doubt, correct thing.

And I applaud you for it.

I wish you all the best of luck...................................

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I would have done the same thing.

Even if you had gone, your mind would have been elsewhere and you probably would have been too worried to give it your full attention. You could have been excluded just for that, since, here at least, they make sure that everyone is willing and equipped to serve for however long it takes. Both you and the jury are better off... You're needed much more by your family just now. Put it out of your mind and get some rest. :hug:

[BlooInBloo]

4. On matters of conscience, you're the best judge.

[pnwmom]

5. I wouldn't want a worried and distracted juror on a jury.

You did the right thing, IMHO.

[laconicsax]

6. If you're going to perjure yourself, you shouldn't post about it on the Internet.

To the best of my knowledge, if you lie to get out of jury duty, you can be charged with perjury.

[lunatica]

7. Like the government never lied to any of us

I've forgotten that I had jury duty before and I've even just blown them off recently. The worst they do is contact you via mail to tell you that you have to fill out the enclosed form and choose a date for your next jury duty. No penalties, no scolding, nothing.

You have much more important things going on in your life right now. Just pinch yourself!

[Skittles]

8. people who serve on juries need to pay attention

you'd be too worried so it's probably best you do not serve

[seeviewonder]

9. I am with you on this one!

You definitely did what any normal citizen would do in that situation. Best of luck to you!

[tavalon]

10. You did fine, relax

Bureaucracy doesn't allow for nuance. Caring humans need to.

As a funny aside, I've been called to many a jury pool and even picked in the initial rounds, but they keep trying to seat me on drug juries and when the lawyer asks me whether I think drugs should be legalized, I say "absolutely" because I truly do. I never get to actually be on the jury.

[Mythsaje]

11. I regretted having to pass up jury duty the one and only time I got called...

I couldn't afford it at the time. Rather pissed me off, honestly, since my wife had the most interesting experience only a few months earlier. Of course, HER employer pays them for jury duty. Mine does not.

[DCKit]

12. They'll get you later. You have more important things to do right now.

I was on jury duty on Thursday and couldn't wait to use my "activist judge" comment to get dismissed (or thrown in jail for contempt), but I wasn't called and they dismissed us at lunch. I'm there every summer, but many folks I know have never been called. Go figure.

[paulsby]

13. imo, you should feel guilty

serving on a jury is a basic duty of american citizens. we have lots of rights. far fewer duties. this is one of them.

however, the fact that you feel guilty is good. it means you have a conscience.

imo, the better choice would have been to answer the form honestly and bring the issue up at voir dire or at the court.

as somebody who works with the court system so frequently, i am well aware that we need conscientious, smart , fair people to serve on juries. it's actually quite an honour.