JuryDuty101
Maine - List of Jury Duty Excuses
Maine - List of Jury Duty Excuses
Maine - Getting Excused From Jury Duty
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| Jury Duty Excuses Chart For Maine
| Situation | Jury Duty |
|---|---|
| Military |  |
| Elected Official |  |
| Student | |
| Breastfeeding Mother | |
| Police | |
| Medical Worker | |
| Firefighter | |
| Disablity | |
While jury duty is a civic requirement for all eligible citizens in Maine, there are a number of excuses that can be used to legally get out of being required to report for jury selection or jury duty, or receive a deferral.
Maine has a list of specific excuses that can be used to be exempt from reporting for jury duty, including excuses for elected official, student, breastfeeding, age, police and firefighter. You can also be excused if you don't meet the basic eligibility requirements for jury duty in ME.
Generally, if you qualify for one of the statutory excuses, you can respond to your jury duty summons letter with an excuse note containing proof of your excuse, and you will not have to report for jury selection.
| Maine Jury Duty Age Limit Excuse
Maine has a statutory exemption that allows individuals over a certain age to request exemption from jury duty. In Maine, persons 80 years of age and older may be excused if they do not wish to serve.
| Maine Military Jury Duty Excuse
In the state of Maine, potential jurors attending or returning from active state service or federal military duty are exempt from jury duty.
| Maine Elected Offical Jury Duty Excuse
The governor is fully exempt from jury service.
Municipal election officials are excused from serving on a jury on the day of an election.
State election officials and municipal clerks, registrars, and their employees are excused from serving on a jury for 31 days prior to an election.
| Maine Police Jury Duty Excuse
Sheriffs are exempt from jury duty in the state of Maine.
| Maine Medical Jury Duty Excuse
In Maine, physicians and dentists providing active patient care; Veterinarians with or in an active veterinary medicine practice are exempt from jury duty.
| Maine Disablity Jury Duty Excuse
In Maine, potential jurors must submit a physician's certificate or accredited Christian Science practitioner's certificate to verify disability in order to be exempt from jury duty.
| Other Jury Duty Excuses in Maine
A prospective juror may be excused from jury service upon a showing of undue hardship, extreme inconvenience, public necessity or inability to render satisfactory jury service because of physical or mental disability.
Judges and attorneys-at-law also exempt.
Can I Get Excused From Jury Duty Because I Work?
In Maine, your employer is not allowed to penalize you for missing work for jury duty. Therefore, simply having a job isn't in itself enough to be excused from jury duty. However, some courts may excuse you if serving on a jury and missing work would cause undue hardship to either yourself or your employer.
Submitting A Jury Duty Excuse Letter
If you do not qualify for any of the Maine statutory exemptions listed above but seriously think that attending jury selection would cause you undue hardship, you can always submit a jury duty excuse letter with your response to the summons, and ask to be excused. It will be at the discretion of the court that summoned you whether to accept or deny your excuse.
Remember - A Jury Selection Summons Doesn't Mean You'll Be On A Jury
Keep in mind that your initial jury duty summons is only for attending jury selection day, where it will be decided if you are to actually serve on a jury during the "Voir Dire" process. If you can't get out of attending jury selection, there are many ways to raise the odds that you will be excused after jury selection without being selected to serve on a jury.