Federal Jury service, logistics.... (USA)

February 18, 2021 9:40 AM

Has anyone ever served on federal jury duty at a 50+ mile distance from home?

Because that is what I am summoned to.

I am asking for real life experiences before I call with my questions because calling government agencies is usually an exercise in frustration.

I will call on a Sunday night after 5pm to see what my next instructions are. The instructions could be: Be here, 55 miles away by 8am the next morning. Or perhaps they will be: be here by 8 am 3 days from now. Or possibly: your service is not needed at this time, call back in exactly one week after 5pm for your next instructions. My jury duty is a 6-week on-call and the pamphlets in my packet say that most people serve about 3 or 4 days during their on-call.

I will be given a hotel reimbursement up to a certain amount and there's a list of hotels that are walking distance from the courthouse that will give the jury rate. Luckily I don't anticipate room availability being a problem (sigh, covidtimes).

I can't find anything in my pamphlets about whether I will know in advance if a case I am serving on will last multiple days. I want to know if I will only find out at the end of a day in court.

I am picturing a scenario where I have to pack up and move out of the hotel in the morning and move my car to the proper reimbursed parking garage, only to find out I must stay another night and go back to the hotel.

If you've served this kind of far away federal jury duty any insight or advice is appreciated. Thanks!

(oh but no advice about avoiding jury duty. I've already had this postponed once. I'll just answer any questions honestly and behave normally and see what happens).

posted by Jenny'sCricket to Law & Government (9 answers total)

When I traveled for work, it was pretty common to have to do a late check-out after our plans changed during the day. It was never a problem at hotels that catered to business travelers, I never paid for any extra days. I imagine even less so during this COVID era. In addition to talking to the courthouse you can ask the hotel what their late check-out policy is for jurists.
posted by muddgirl at 10:03 AM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

Also, I'd expect a hotel to be willing to store luggage and your vehicle until later in the day even on the day you do check out. Be sure to ask.
posted by meinvt at 10:07 AM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

I suppose it depends on the traffic and whatnot, but if it's not heavy traffic a 50 mile distance is often just an hour drive, which strikes me as a super normal (if slightly on the long side) commute. Is just driving every day not an option?

And you won't know ahead of time if it's multiple days. You may not know until 30 minutes before the day is over (because they may not know). Even the jury selection process on its own can be 1 hour or can be multiple days.
posted by brainmouse at 10:14 AM on February 18, 2021 [4 favorites]

I spent most of my career in federal courts (including being a potential juror using the phone system about 5 years ago.) They had an automated system where I was on call for five days, so it was a little different than what you're describing, but we pulled jurors from up to 100 miles away. While I'm sure there are exceptions, rare is a federal case, civil or criminal, that would only last a day from jury selection to verdict. I would expect the decision to be whether you are selected (or not) for a trial that will most likely last multiple days, not whether the trial itself is one day only. It is reasonably safe to assume any trial will be multiple days. Jury selection alone can take half a day. Although things have probably changed in the pandemic, federal courts always have a bigger pool than they need so there is a decent chance you'll not be called in at all.

The hotels the government contracts with have done this before so they may be able to offer some options to make it less painful, like storing your luggage so you don't have to take it with you. It may wind up being less painful to drive in and out, but I assume you've done the math on this already. At our federal court, everyone chose this option, but I live in a large metroplex where people drive 50 miles to commute.

Thank you in advance for your service. The jurors I tried cases to were a really good group who took their important duty seriously. I think they were glad to serve their community.
posted by *s at 10:41 AM on February 18, 2021 [12 favorites]

I was on a federal jury about 3 years ago. Same deal, call after 5 to see if you need to be there, etc. I live in the Chicago suburbs and was fortunately able to just catch the commuter train to the city, so I don't know much about arranging for a hotel, sorry.

I didn't know until after 3pm that I was selected to be on the jury, then told that the trial was likely going to last for a week and a half. They do have ways of determining how long arguments will last, how many witnesses, etc. But they don't know how long it will take to reach consensus among the jurors. My jury was fortunately mostly on the same page, and we only needed about 2 hours after the closing arguments. The trial took 6 days (so 7 days total, including the selection process), which was right on target with what they told us on the front end.
posted by little king trashmouth at 12:08 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

My partner was selected for a federal grand jury service that lasted 18 months. We were about 60 miles away and he would have jury service every other week for two days (if I recall.) He was compensated for the hotel stay the night before his 8 AM reporting so he didn't have to travel in the morning in an area with horrible traffic. This may not apply, but he stayed regularly at the same hotel and was able to negotiate a pretty sweet deal with free dinner vouchers, parking, and free rewards points that allowed us to have comped stays at that chain's locations for a couple years. If there are hotels/motels around the courthouse you are summoned to, they may be very used to jurors staying there, and they will let you store luggage the last day of your service after checking out, and will hopefully know how to deal with flexible trial lengths and car parking hassles, as this will be something they are used to dealing with.
posted by lizard music at 12:37 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I don't know about jury service specifically but having traveled a lot for business and conventions and stuff, it's pretty normal to stash things at the hotel and come back and get them later. Call in advance and ask, obviously, but it's not a weird request, particularly if it's a more business-class hotel.

It may just be behind the counter or something so I wouldn't put, like, family heirlooms in it just in case, but for normal stuff it's been fine.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 1:11 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've been called for this but never actually had to go physically in yet, just was on on call for what they claimed was going to be 4 weeks but was in reality 6.

I don't really have any helpful advice, but you might want to check/keep checking if federal jury duty is still going on at this level of pandemic. Last I checked our federal jury duty was on hold (they sent me an eligibility survey at the start of the pandemic) and even my county's jury duty got shut down. Who knows if they may still be trying to do "business as usual" these days.

(I know this sounds like a duh because you asked, so presumably your area IS business as usual, but I would keep an eye out for any automatic cancellations on their website if I were you.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:22 PM on February 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Is just driving every day not an option?

I mean sure, but I've spent every day for a year with all of my family. If the government is willing to give me a little vacation from those I love most, I'm taking them up on it!

Thanks for your responses everybody, they are very reassuring.
posted by Jenny'sCricket at 2:40 PM on February 21, 2021