Jury duty summons + Anxiety/Depression

NameGoesHere

Another thread related to anxiety to add to the fray.

I'm a long time sufferer of anxiety and depression and I haven't really been on any medication for it for years. Partly for financial reasons but mostly because of lack of motivation. Without going into an extra long story, I've been more depressed than ever lately to the point where I began to have my first actual suicidal thoughts. Knowing that this was a really bad road to go down and having a more stable financial situation I've finally made an appointment with a doctor.

However the fates have also decided now would be a great time to serve me a jury duty summons. It's really not something I think I can deal with right now. I've never actually done it, so truthfully I don't know how bad it actually is, but I just don't think I'm in the best state for such a thing mentally and emotionally.

I'm aware that with a doctor's note, you may be able to get them to excuse you, however I don't see this doctor until the 26th and the date for the summons is April 6th. That sounds like it could possibly be cutting it close if I waited to respond until after that appointment. Especially because there's no guarantee I could get a note on the very first one? I have a therapist, but I imagine they're likely not capable of providing sufficient documentation.

The summons questionnaire has fields for inputting why you should be excused, and whether or not you can act as a fair and impartial juror. I don't think I'd be lying to say that I can't in my current state, but I worry what happens if you just answer "no" to such a question and try to put down "anxiety/depression" without any actual proof. I mean I wouldn't put it past people to try to use such stuff as an excuse when it wasn't actually true.

So I suppose what I'm asking is if anyone has any similar experiences or has any particular suggestions. Thank you!

Psychotic One

In reality. Jury Duty is usually a nothing thing. Most of the time I've gone to Jury Duty I've just sat in a room and watched movies. My court has ethernet ports you can plug into and just surf the net the whole day. 9/10 times you arrive by 8 and unless dudes are really insistant that their DUI wasn't their fault you are out by 10. Its annoying but just something you have to arrive to. Just think of it as a day off with bad coffee.

I've also gotten to see alot of free Nicholas Cage movies at Jury Duty.

Enc

Yeah, most metropolitan places pull far more folk on duty than there are active cases. There are typically a few stages of jury duty to look out for:

• Arrival and parking - Make sure you get any tickets you need for parking validation and bring your summons letter with you if you still have it.
• Check in - make sure you go up to the counter and report in immediately, get your parking validated, and inquire about whatever pay remission they are offering. Most jury participants are able to claim a minimum wage check for the hours they are requested since you aren't able to work that day, though how this works varies by city.
• The general pool waiting game - you sit and keep yourself busy for 1-8 hours while folk get called over the loud speaker. In both cases ive run this was done by a lots number, so remember your number if you are issued one. If it is by name just don't fall asleep. This is where 90% of folk stop in the process. You sit, wait for random selection, and don't get called and then around 2 or so you go home once all cases for the day were filled. In some regions you may be required to do a second day, but I've only heard about this in a few deep south states and haven't seen it personally (if so it will say on your summons).
• IF YOU ARE PICKED:
• Lawyer & Judge interview: The pool selected will be brought before both lawyers involved in the case for questioning. This sounds stressful., but it really isn't They typically ask you about your occupation and one or two questions involving general information about the case. Just answer honestly and things will go fine. This step is to determine if you might have bias towards the particulars of the case and while you wont be told what the case is lying here is huge no-no. It's nothing you need to study up on, they approach every candidate as if they are complete laymen and that's fine! Each lawyer can dismiss a set number of jurors if they feel they will have bias, as can the judge (though this varies by state as well). About 30-50% of jurors are dismissed at this point and go home.
• IF YOU ARE PICKED AGAIN:
• In some places another step happens here once you are introduced to the case where you can make claims of hardship if the case is going to be long term or if it has personal impact on you (such as a case with a trigger for diagnosed PTSD, etc) or if by being sequestered for multiple days you will have undue hardship (self employed, single parent, and other such bits). You really only want to bring this up if it is 100% true and a really big deal. This is the last point that you can be dismissed in.
• Well, you're in it for the long haul so to speak. Most cases are 1-3 days at worst, With most being a few hours that day or the next day depending on when selection occurred. Just follow instructions, be honest, and experience the greatest honor and duty our culture has.

Cabezone

You should be allowed one no questions asked postponememt. At least.... You are in California.

tinwhiskers

Let me help you via a visualization exercise.

Imagine your self in a room with some random other people. They are all very sedate and bored looking.

Now imagine the wall in that room. It's probably a beige or gray, a very neutral color.

Keep focusing on the wall. Really examine it with your minds eye. Is it slightly dingy? Yes it is.

Keep visualizing the wall. Really delve it's mysteries, did someone wipe snot on it in that corner there? Probably.

Continue visualizing the wall for the next 4 to 8 hours.

You have now completed your jury duty visualization.

NameGoesHere

Ha, thanks for the responses. If anything it sounds like maybe a good opportunity to start reading this book a friend gave me.

It's possible my Muprhy's Law-filled life lately is just kind of assuming the worst. As in, that I'd get picked and have to articulate my points and reasonings and such and I'm just really not good at doing that with strangers face to face. I know the likelihood that I'd get picked is small but I didn't want to just pretend everything was fine and fill out my form without any mention of the anxiety only to get chosen and have it actually become an issue.

Is it something I'd mention to them once I get there in the case that they'd find it important? Do they ask about such things or do they assume you fill it out on the form?

Wassermelone

Its something they would ask if you were being interviewed by lawyers for the Jury.

Or at least when I was interviewed (and ultimately served on the jury) they asked something to the effect of "Do you believe that there is anything that would impair your ability blahblahblah". If it gets too far, you could just ask to speak to the judge.

Also, my wife had an actual panic attack during a break from jury selection. One of the bailiffs excused her immediately, no questions asked.

builderr0r

.

tinwhiskers

builderr0r wrote: »

Hello anxiety buddy Is this your first time? When I was summoned, it was just a BUNCH of waiting in different rooms. I just kept to myself and did some reading/studying. Once they were picking the jury, I was called up to talk to the judge and I said I was going to be busy with final exams so they excused me. I'm sure if you mentioned your anxiety and depression at that point, you'd be excused too. Or before that, they asked everyone questions about whether they would be biased on the case. You could just raise your hand at that point and you'd be excused, I think. My anxiety kept me from raising my hand somehow though so idk if that would be hard for you or not.

Pretty sure you are under oath for that part, so do not perjure yourself just to duck jury duty.

Enc

builderr0r wrote: »

Hello anxiety buddy Is this your first time? When I was summoned, it was just a BUNCH of waiting in different rooms. I just kept to myself and did some reading/studying. Once they were picking the jury, I was called up to talk to the judge and I said I was going to be busy with final exams so they excused me. I'm sure if you mentioned your anxiety and depression at that point, you'd be excused too. Or before that, they asked everyone questions about whether they would be biased on the case. You could just raise your hand at that point and you'd be excused, I think. My anxiety kept me from raising my hand somehow though so idk if that would be hard for you or not.

Yeah... this is fairly unethical and potentially perjury. Just be honest and patient and the entire jury duty responsibility will be fairly simple and straightforward 99.9999999% of the time. Doing anything to deliberately get yourself excused without cause is just asking for trouble and is sorta insulting to the rest of your citizen brethren who are also having their time taken up by this responsibility (same as you).

NameGoesHere

Yeah yeah the idea of lying under oath probably would stress me out more than just serving on the jury would, so I'm not going to make anything up. I only ask regarding the anxiety because it's an actual issue that often hinders me from doing even the simplest things and that's on a good day.

I'll just fill out my summons normally and honestly. If it gets to where I get interviewed I'll bring it up there. At that point they'd probably be able to tell just by talking to me anyway.

Thank you!

azith28

Seems to me that admitting something like this might actually get you chosen by the defense side at least. A person afraid to sentence someone = a hung jury.

Pinfeldorf

When I got called in for jury selection in Seattle it was for a cop-killer case. They asked everyone in the room to raise their hand if they had anyone in their family who worked in law enforcement or if they'd ever had a weird run-in with a cop and then asked every single person, one by one, to cite their specific (is the cop your husband? cousin? did you get arrested for something or just had a cop treat you badly?) scenario. Of the 110 people in the room 68 were dismissed at this level. I missed being in that jury purely by having a last name in the tail end of the alphabet as several potential jurors were dismissed for...other reasons.

So that would have been a 3 - 4 month ordeal for me, but to be honest, I don't think I would have minded. The idea of jury duty seems palatable to me, since if I really believe in this country I should at least be willing to participate in the judicial system to some extent!

Invisible

As someone with anxiety and depression who also just got summoned for jury duty on April 6th (small world), it's really not that bad. Chances are you'll end up just sitting around for nothing, most cases are short and it'll be an interesting life experience.

I'm more concerned with having to drive in traffic than the jury duty itself.

Jasconius

the reason people don't like jury duty is not because jury duty itself sucks

its because they have to put their life on hold to be on jury duty

if you have nothing going on that day, you're aces

melissa1981

Every time I've been summoned to jury duty the judge has said, "If anyone feels the need to be excused, please approach the bench." I've had to get out of it a couple of times because I did payroll (at the time) and no one else could do it besides me. Hopefully the judge will give the same direction in your case, so you can just tell him/her why you don't need to be there. Just be honest, tell them you have high anxiety issues that would compromise your ability to make a sound decision about the case.

Sir Fabulous

I'm not sure how the jury process works in America, but as someone who was just on a jury in Canada, part of the process includes telling the judge if you think you'd be unable to perform the necessary duties of a juror. The lawyers have no say in this part.

The specific case I was called for was a murder trial, which meant that the judge wasn't letting people off easily, but there was still a guy who said he had insomnia and was let off, without having to produce a doctor's note or anything.

So, just say that you've got depression. Maybe grab a doctor's note saying so just in case. No judge worth his salt will make someone serve on a jury if they have a serious illness.