Otter592 t1_jc2zkj4 wrote on March 13, 2023 at 5:47 PM

People have asked this on the parenting subs. General consensus is to bring the baby with you for your summons. Breastfeed right there in the courtroom. Do whatever you need to do to take care of your baby.

Also, answer some of the questions "wrong" in a believable way. Enough wrong to be thrown out as biased, but not enough that it looks like you're trying to be thrown out. Try either being a racist or being very anti-cop/government.

linsor1 t1_jc39az0 wrote on March 13, 2023 at 6:48 PM

Pretending to be racist worked for me when I was summoned for Pittsburgh federal court.

dockellis24 t1_jc3ciu6 wrote on March 13, 2023 at 7:09 PM

I just said I would never believe anything a police officer said or submitted to evidence because all police lie and I’ve conveniently never been asked to participate again. I don’t think I could bring myself to pretend to be racist tho, if much rather shit on police than do that.

linsor1 t1_jc3hz8t wrote on March 13, 2023 at 7:44 PM

Yeah, I felt bad about it, but at the time I couldn't think of anything else. Now that you gave me a better idea at least I'll have something if it happens again.

dyngalive t1_jc3sxqm wrote on March 13, 2023 at 8:54 PM

I told them my best friend was injured in a mass shooting so I would be very harsh on violent criminals, especially if it involved a gun or male-on-female violence (true) and I would never vote for the death penalty under any circumstances and I think that the system in general is heavily weighted against people of color and women (also true). Pretty sure neither the prosecution nor the defense wanted me after those answers. Feel free to use those as well.

rivershimmer t1_jc3pbzq wrote on March 13, 2023 at 8:31 PM

That also worked for Larry David on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but backfired on him when he ended up back in front of the same judge.

Little_Noodles t1_jc45oa9 wrote on March 13, 2023 at 10:20 PM

I wasn’t trying to get out of it, but I was once asked if I knew anyone who had been sexually assaulted and I said that I know more than 6 women, so yeah, I did.

Got kicked right to civil trials for that one, where they put me on a jury there (which I was fine with, as my work has paid leave for jury duty).