When it comes to wriggling out of jury duty, lawyers have heard it all

"When I first became a prosecutor in New Bedford, a potential juror said he couldn't serve because he was going fishing. Not being from that area I thought, 'Are you serious? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.' Then I realized he was in the fishing industry, and he was going out on a boat for 30 days."
— Jeremy Silverfine,
Boston trial lawyer

"On more than one occasion I've had people claim to be Jehovah's Witnesses and therefore unable to judge any person. And sometimes the person saying it looked like he had as much to do with the Jehovah's Witnesses as I do with climbing Mount Everest."
— David W. White,
Boston plaintiffs' lawyer

"I was up in Salem trying a case, and we were empanelling the jury when a fellow came up to the sidebar and said that that morning he'd walked in on his wife in bed with his best friend. He said he had to go to court that morning to file for divorce. He was actually shaking. He was a young guy, too. That's the oddest one I ever [heard]."
— Andrew C. Meyer Jr., Boston medical
malpractice lawyer

"We were empanelling on a murder when one of the jurors, who was Asian, came up to sidebar and indicated he couldn't speak or understand English. He was nodding his head, going, 'No English, no English.' So we all agreed he shouldn't serve, and the judge removed him. A few minutes later, we saw him speaking fluent English to one of the other jurors as they were walking out of the room."
— Carmine P. Lepore Jr.,
criminal defense attorney, Revere