Have you ever been summoned for jury duty but gotten out of it? For a legitimate reason?
Or did you simply not want to serve, as I often hear is the case from friends, coworkers, etc.
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I was very unwell back in the '90s and my doctor wrote a letter for me. I believe it happened twice. Since then, I've only been called once, but I didn't get picked for the jury, so I only had to report for the first day. 
My mother was called once when she was out of the country, and I was responsible for her mail. She was in Australia and there was no way for me to even reach her. I called the Commissioner of Jurors, who happens to know my mother, and explained the situation. She was very nice, said that she'd save "something special" for my mother in the future, and she did. My mother was not only called to serve on a Grand Jury, but she was foreman(person?). 
And I want to serve on a petit jury too! 
The one time I did get past voir dire was for a grand jury, which was very enlightening & I encourage everyone to try to get on a panel.
In fact, it was a voir dire for a capital murder jury panel that got me thinking "hey, this law stuff is pretty interesting!" 
Also changed my mind about the death penalty too & I've advocated against it ever since.
and the prosecution did not want me on the jury 
I WANTED to serve, but the first time, I was a nursing mother so that wouldn't work. The second time I was the parent to a newborn foster child (now my adopted son!), so that didn't work.
This most recent time was a Federal jury and I really wanted on that jury, but they picked the pool before they got to me.
They would have probably disqualified me anyway - based on my relationship with a prison guard (ex husband) - but that would have been the exact reason I should have stayed. I knew what those guards are really like!
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... what the fuck was wrong with ME!!!)
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I was working a job where I was making about $8/hour -- so I was living pretty much paycheck-to-paycheck.
My company didn't pay me for jury duty and I forget what jury pay was, but it was significantly lower than
what I was making -- enough so that it was going to (and did) cause some difficulties.
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I was torn on serving (I served my country for 6 years in the Army). Part of me didn't WANT to go through
even more "inconvenience"... yet part of me was FASCINATED and undeniably curious about the process and
experience. I went -- hoping about 60/40 that I'd get accepted (I think most cases at the time were boring and
fairly cut-and-dried DUI cases).
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I "lucked out" (I guess). Got accepted for a 1st degree murder trial. Focused on each-and-every-word spoken
during what turned out to be a two-week trial. The accused was a young woman who had shot her boyfriend
and almost got away with it entirely -- she disappeared and it was quite awhile before a weird and lucky break
pointed the police in her direction. The murdered person was a young man -- it gained some notoriety as
Tucson's "yoga guru murder".
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I ended up like Henry Fonda in "12 Angry Men" -- except I was the ONLY one voting for "guilty of 1st-degree
murder" on the first vote. I argued a lot and, as one of the very few on the jury with any weapons experience,
realized that the majority of the jurors hadn't a clue as to how the prosecutor had masterfully demonstrated
how the gun's discharge could NOT have been accidental (while we were deliberating, I petitioned the judge to
allow her to RE-present that demonstration -- he granted it and it reversed the opinions of 4 of the other jurors).
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We ended up with a hung jury. We were doomed from the start -- one of the jurors was an old racist homophobe
who ended up calling the Mexican victim -- the shooter was Caucasian -- a "gay-ro" instead of a guru. When we
started talking about telling the judge, he changed his vote from the ONLY "not guilty" to the only "manslaughter"
verdict. I think it was 7 or 8 for 1st-degree, 3 or 4 for 2nd-degree, and 1 for manslaughter. It had to be unanimous
if we were going to convict of 1st-degree murder.
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We found out later, to our extreme dismay, that we could have gotten him booted off the moment he started
exhibiting racist and/or homophobic tendencies.
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After the trial, I bolted from the jury room and found the victim's parents (they had spent the entire trial stoicly
in the courtroom). I hugged them and apologized and we all cried. I felt horrible.
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The fucking press spotted us and pounced on us like vultures. Fuck "bleeds" -- "if it GRIEVES, it sells".
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The accused was eventually re-tried and convicted of second-degree murder.
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The attorneys were petitioning the judge for about two days out-of-hearing of the jury. One of the "mitigating
factors" (in some jurors' minds) was the fact that the accused had had her handgun and carry permit for five
years, yet had NEVER even threatened anyone with it.
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The petitioning was due to the fact that, DURING the trial, the prosecution found out that, within the previous
year, the accused's husband had called the police for a domestic disturbance and, on the 911 tape, you could
hear her screaming in the background that she was going to shoot -- to KILL his lousy ass.
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The judge DENIED allowing us access to that knowledge -- saying it would "prejudice the case".
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Well, fucking-A DUH!!!!!
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I'll go if called again, though karma (at least "karma lite"
almost dictates that I'd be sent home -- and I don't
think EITHER side want any jurors with previous experience in a murder trial.
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I really don't understand the almost-universal desire to "get out" of jury duty. It's not like having to chaperone
a highschool dance.
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