Jaffrey woman is asking for help to avoid US District Court jury duty

[J’raxis 270145]

A nice woman from Jaffrey called looking for help in avoiding jury duty at the US District Court. She saw coffee7s ad for a jurors handbook in the July print edition of the Keene Free Press. She wondered if that would help her know the best way to proceed. She doesn't want to have anything to do with the federal court, but is scared by their threats. She loves what we do with the paper and was excited to be talking with me, since she reads all about how we are standing up to the thugs.

What's her reason for wanting to have nothing to do with the federal courts? Is she afraid of them, or just opposed to dealing with the federal government on principle? If it's the latter, I'd actually try to persuade her to serve on a jury—remember, as a juror, she's essentially in a position to work against the very government to which she's opposed, and it would in my opinion be a nice opportunity to do so.

[Russell Kanning]

I think she is thinking like RattyDog.
I don't want to talk her into serving on a jury.

[Russell Kanning]

She has already responded to them once.

[Lloyd Danforth]

She should write them and explain that although she doesn't want to participate, as there is a chance she will be forced to, she is 'studying up' on being a juror.  Then,  slip an FIJA brochure in the envelope and mail it.

[Russell Kanning]

I like that suggestion.

[Russell Kanning]

maybe I could send along a printed version of this website and some fija stuff:

http://www.butnowyouknow.com/jury.duty.html

   How to Get Out of Jury Duty
...and be a hero for it, instead of a "bad citizen"!    

That damned envelope shows up, informing you that you must Serve Your Country. No, not a draft notice, the other one; Jury Duty. This might not seem so bad...you get to decide someone's fate and maybe read newspapers with holes cut in them...but the government has conveniently "forgotten" to link what they pay you to inflation, so that you're getting the same four cents per day (to make up for your lost work) as ancient Roman citizens got when Caesar was still in his bronze diapers.

But if you try to ditch jury duty, you have to face twin hurdles:
You will be a "bad citizen", as the whole fabric of society depends on trial by jury...

And, far more important, if you try to skip out they'll reinstate capital punishment for jury evaders, or at least drag you into court and fine you or something.
So you have to come up with a really "compelling reason" why you can't serve, despite your honest desire (cough) to live up to your civic duties.

Unfortunately, the courts will often reject even truly valid reasons, so the ones you're making up right now are even less likely to save your butt.

But tremble in fear no longer, a solution is at hand!

Simply Be Honest.

All you have to do is admit to the court that you know the powers you would have as a juror.

See, the courts weren't really in on the whole "Constitutional Convention" thing, and ever since 1787 they've been bending over backwards to weed out troublemakers who insist on sticking to some of the rights granted back then.

No, not the gun nonsense. Not that free speech silliness. Nothing about income taxes being only for federal employees, or who gets to have abortions.

What really pisses off judges and lawyers is that whole "Juries have the power to decide the law" thing.

See, the guys who set up the whole US Government decided to include Common Law in the court system. This includes the power of a jury to decide that the defendant did indeed break the law, but that the jury doesn't approve of the law.

So the defendant is not guilty by reason of the law sucking, essentially.

Can you think of any laws like that?

If you're like me (sorry, didn't mean to be insulting), you can probably think of more crappy laws than poop-free ones.

So you, as a juror, get to reject any law you don't like.

Now, having read this far, YOU ARE FREE FROM JURY DUTY!

I kid you not. It was that simple.

No judge or lawyer even denies that you have this power.

But they do refuse to let anyone who knows about this power serve on a jury.

Nice loophole for the power-hungry courts, eh?

But their little scam is YOUR salvation.

All you have to do is tell them you know about your right to toss out bad laws, and they will decide you can't serve, just as if you knew too much about the case, or were eleven months pregnant.

When they're screening you, and they get to the question

"Will you follow the law as given, even if you disagree with it?",

or any kind of question about "Jury Nullification" (the power you have to toss out...nullify...a law), or when they ask you if there's any reason you shouldn't serve, you simply tell the judge you know your rights as a juror, that you can reject any sucky law even if the judge instructs you not to. Don't worry, no matter how annoyed he looks, the judge will simply release you from jury duty, to go back home to your family and job or whatever.

YOU are a hero, because you've struck a blow against their little evasion of freedom and justice...and yet you're also FREE FROM JURY DUTY!

Whoo hoo!

[Lloyd Danforth]

Almost immediately after the Revolution

[Lloyd Danforth]

They started a system that required vigilance by an educated society.  People had even less time to devote to this then, than, now, due, to the difficulty of survival.  Add to this that from the beginning many were figuring how to capitalize on the new government.

[EthanAllen]

Almost immediately after the Revolution

Why?

Did comfort lead to complacency? Did we forget how it felt *not* to be free to do as we wished?

Remember the "country" operated under the articles of confederation prior to the enactment of the US Constitution in 1787.

[error]

Sure, but they will never send me a summons.

[Dave Ridley]

walk in with a shirt that says juries may overrule judges

[Dreepa]

But yes....I understand this womans not wanting to go, that's the way my mother feels, she just wants the gov't to leave her the hell alone. She doesn't want to protest or rally, she just wants them to disappear and leave her the hell alone!

To answer your other question... this quote is why we are in the shape we are in.
While many of us... want to be 'left alone'.... the facists/socialists... have been plotting to 'protect us'.
Bread and Circus...

We need to be ever vigilant.

[KBCraig]

walk in with a shirt that says juries may overrule judges

I don't know about the fed court in NH, but the East Texas court warns potential jurors of their strict dress code. Men showing up without a jacket and tie will be forced to wear a nasty stinky blazer hanging on the CSO's "spares" rack. 

[J’raxis 270145]

walk in with a shirt that says juries may overrule judges

I don't know about the fed court in NH, but the East Texas court warns potential jurors of their strict dress code. Men showing up without a jacket and tie will be forced to wear a nasty stinky blazer hanging on the CSO's "spares" rack. 

Heh. At least they provide people with spares. There are already enough reasonable objections to jury duty itself being compulsory; if they tried to require me to buy an expensive suit too, I'd show up in the rattiest jeans and T-shirt I could find.

[Russell Kanning]

I just got off of the phone with the lady again. She was very encouraged by our conversation. It is fun to hear what ways so many people are effected by our little monthly news magazine.

If any of you have some good fija stuff we can send her, let me know. I have her address now.