Does jury dury service transfer across state lines?

August 17, 2015 8:23 AM

My friend served jury duty in NY state and was told that he's now exempt from jury duty for 8 years in any state or federal court. I served jury duty less than 8 years ago in NY, moved to CT, and have now been called in CT. Can anyone point me to documentation of this law online so I can get out of serving in CT?
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (10 answers total)

I think you should ask your friend for a citation. For federal juries, it appears to be two years. (I think how often you can be called for other juries depends on the state, and wouldn't carry over from one state to another.)
posted by wintersweet at 8:29 AM on August 17, 2015

State-level jury duty service does not transfer across state lines, and even within NY the limit is 2 years, not 8 (see faq here). Your friend was either misinformed or misunderstood.
posted by brainmouse at 8:30 AM on August 17, 2015 [8 favorites]

State jury stuff doesn't transfer over, sounds like your friend may have misunderstood the situation.
posted by jessamyn at 8:31 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Gonna agree with the folks above: no, it does not transfer state-to-state. And even within a state I'd double-check anything like 8 years: that's an awful long time to excuse your limited pool of jury candidates. (Here in Virginia, it's three years.)
posted by easily confused at 8:43 AM on August 17, 2015

Agreeing with above: nope, jury service doesn't transfer between jurisdictions. And in NY, you would be exempt for six years, not eight, if you actually were chosen for a jury and sat as a juror. Otherwise, assuming that you were called for jury duty but not actually chosen to sit on a jury, it's two years between jury duty stints, not eight, as brainmouse notes.
posted by holborne at 8:48 AM on August 17, 2015

8 years sounds long to me too, but regardless: in this case it's Connecticut law that will be controlling since you're a Connecticut resident now. I'd just call up the court listed on your summons, let them know when you last served, and ask if that will allow you to be excused from CT service. My guess is not, unless it was very recent (i.e. within the last year), but it's possible.
posted by rainbowbrite at 8:51 AM on August 17, 2015

Actually, correction -- I do believe that state courts in NY give four years between jury duty summonses, not two. But no court I'm aware of gives eight.
posted by holborne at 9:10 AM on August 17, 2015

The 8 year exemption is for serving 11 or more days on a NY grand jury. (See page 13.)
posted by statsgirl at 9:35 AM on August 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Eight years would be for a grand jury that sat for at least 11 days. See the NY Grand Juror's Handbook.
posted by maurice at 9:36 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I don't think it transfers across state lines, unless it's Federal court, which it doesn't sound like.

8 years also sounds implausible. In the two states where I have been called to jury duty (Massachusetts and Maryland), it's 3 years.
posted by tckma at 10:02 AM on August 17, 2015