Oklahoma - List of Jury Duty Excuses

Oklahoma has a statutory exemption that allows individuals over a certain age to request exemption from jury duty. Citizens over the age of 70 can be exempt from jury service under this age exception.

Persons over 70 years of age shall not be compelled to serve as jurors.

In Oklahoma, legislators may be excused from jury duty if it is during a session of the Legislature or when involved in state business.

No educational institution can take any adverse action against a student attending jury duty in the state of Oklahoma.

Mothers who are breast-feeding a baby can be exempt from service as jurors upon request.

In Oklahoma, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, jailers or law enforcement officers having custody of prisoners, may be exempt from jury duty.

If the prospective juror has a mental or physical condition that renders them incapable of performing jury service, they may provide the court with physician's documentation verifying their condition makes unfit for jury service for a period of up to 24 months.

Automatic rescheduling of jury service of a summoned juror employed at a place with 5 or less other employees, if a colleague has been previously summoned to appear during the same period.

If a prospective juror can show that their service would cause undue, or extreme physical, or financial hardship to them or a person under their care, a judge of the summoning court can determine a period of time for which the juror can be excused or postpone their duty.

All jurors excused for a period of 24 months will become eligible for duty after this period, unless excused permanently.

All prospective jurors are entitled, upon request, to postpone the initial summons to a date no later than 6 months and when court is in session, provided they have not been granted a prior postponement.

Can I Get Excused From Jury Duty Because I Work?

In Oklahoma, 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 Oklahoma 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.