I was selected for jury duty 3 times, all in Nassau County, Long Island.
The first was in November, 1987, in Mineola, the county seat. After waiting most of the day in Central Jury (an auditorium; they had no real accommodations back then), I got called with a bunch of others to get bused to the nearby criminal court building. I was relieved because of my professional background in auto insurance which might get me kicked off a civil case if it involved an insurance company. I ended up getting on a shoplifting case. Spread out over a week, the trial lasted 2 days and we convicted the 39-year-old housewife and mother of 2 kids, hardly a typical shoplifter. The trial started at 11 AM, so it was nice sleeping in and having a short drive to the courthouse instead of a 7 AM wake-up and an annoying LIRR train and subway ride to Manhattan. I found a great place to have lunch which was a great hot turkey sandwich in a basement coffee shop of a nearby office building.
The second was in June, 1996, in Hempstead, near Mineola. At the time, they held trials there but not any more (only arraignments). I was among several potential jurors being questioned for a drunk driving case. But the next day, the defendant and DA struck a plea bargain, so I was back in Central Jury for 2 more days. The accommodations were better, as we had access to a TV, tables, and board games. I was filling in for a Monopoly player who had to use the rest room when we played a joke on her. I hid her money and flipped over all her property cards so she would think she went nearly bankrupt in the few minutes she was away. I didn't get selected for another case.
The third was in October, 2007, back in Mineola. I was among 30 potential jurors chosen for a civil case (construction accident). In civil cases, there is no judge for the jury selection, only the lawyers handle it. And they like to yak up a storm! They went through 25 of us in 6 hours, not counting me and a few others, and had their 6 jurors and an alternate. It was 4 PM and I was dismissed from further jury service. I was working part-time by then, and the day was one of my awful New Jersey trips, so I was spared the commute that day while receiving full pay, like the other 2 times.
But the most meaningful jury summons was the one I didn't have to obey. In late 1986, I received a notice from the Manhattan courts to appear for jury duty. However, I had moved out of Manhattan back in March (to Long Island), so I sent the notice back, including the envelope which showed the Post Office's forwarding label and some other proof of current residence. There was a really big case on the docket in late 1986, the 1984 Bernie Goetz subway shooting case. I wonder if I would have gotten on that case, mainly because I was out of town on vacation the 11 days after the shooting so I missed a lot of the early publicity following the shooting.
I have not been called since 2007. I turn 60 in a few months, and as I recall anyone 65 and over can claim an automatic exemption, one of the few still left after an overhaul of the system in the mid-1990s. Maybe I'll get called again, maybe not.