Can Jury Slaves Say What's True?

Douglas French
Oct. 25, 2012

See my own story here: Tell the Truth, Get Out of Jury Duty

I too was criticized for doing the same, as you'll see in the comments on his article, the fact of the matter is I didn't want to perjure myself, and as Jeff Tucker notes it would only have ended in a hung jury and a retrial. - ChrisUntil last week, I had managed all of my adult life to avoid jury duty. As a young adult in Topeka, Kan., I was never summoned. For my two decades living in Las Vegas, I was able to call in a couple times declaring economic hardship. Most of the time, I seemed to be off their radar screen. I always suspected it was because I hadn't registered to vote.

But finally in my new home in this small Southern town, the state got me. There seemed to be no reasonable way out. Alabama finds its victims to serve by choosing from driver's license records.

My plan was to show up, be asked a couple questions that reveal my hatred of the state, and especially the criminal justice system, be judged as unreliable for the jury box, and be sent on my way.

Unfortunately that's not how the system works.

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