Behind The Scenes Of Jury Duty In Prince William County

After a long day at work, you arrive home and check your mailbox. As you flip through the mail on your walk inside, deciding where to start on your never-ending to-do list, the dreaded envelope slides into your view: a jury summons. While most people’s reaction would be to groan, you may find the experience to be rewarding once on the other side. Here are some aspects to this civic duty which may inspire and surprise you, and some information you might like to know to better prepare yourself to serve:

Will I Definitely Be Chosen?

Just because you receive a summons in the mail, it does not guarantee that you will see the inside of a Court room. However, the chance that you may be called is significant.

The chance of being called is high due to the length of time jurors are assigned for their rotation. You will be “on call” for approximately a month. You are assigned a jury group number, and each week, you check the Prince William County Circuit Court’s website to see if you were chosen.

What Excuses You From Jury Duty?

There are a list of excuses that the Court may recognize upon request by the juror, some of which are:

Politicians.
Attorneys.
Deployed military citizens.
Citizens over the age of 73.
Full time caregivers for disabled individuals or minor children under the age of 16.
Citizens with a spouse summoned to the same jury.
A mariner in maritime service.
An individual who is indispensable to the operations of a business.

Behind The Scenes Of Jury Selection

Attorneys receive a list of potential jurors that will be on call for their case. They review the list, and based upon the facts of the case, there are certain jurors that they do not want to be chosen, and others that they do. This means that before you even receive a jury summons, you may already be on the radar of the defense or the prosecution.

Both the prosecution and defense in a criminal case, or both counsel for the plaintiff and the defendant in a civil case, use a process called “voir dire” to eliminate jurors from the bench who they believe would negatively impact their case, or select jurors who they believe would decide in favor of their case. Voir dire consists of asking questions to see which side of the case a juror would potentially favor when considering their verdict.

What Is Being A Juror Really Like?

Jurors are mailed a summons and a parking pass. The summons gives them basic instructions on what their responsibilities are.

Jurors are “on call” for approximately a month. Weekly, they must check the Court’s website to see if they were chosen.

On days that they are chosen, they must report to the Court at a certain time specified in their summons letter.

Jurors should bring their summons and parking pass with them when they report to Court. They should plan to arrive early to budget extra time for finding the right parking area, getting through security, and navigating to the appropriate area of the Court house. Entering the Court house is similar to airport security; they should plan to bring in the bare minimum of what they need to expedite the process.

When jurors first arrive to the Court house, they are shown a video giving them instructions and information about the jury process.

Next, the attorneys on the case perform voir dire. Through this process, jurors are selected or eliminated. Any juror eliminated is sent home. Depending on how long voir dire takes, jurors may have lunch before hearing the case.

Mid-day, the jurors are excused to have lunch. There is a cafeteria in the courthouse, or they may bring their own lunch. It is not recommended to leave the Court house for lunch, as they may be late returning if they run into traffic, etc.

The jurors must hear the case, then they are excused from the Court room to deliberate. Jurors may only consider if someone has broken a law based upon the circumstances of the case and the aspects of the law broken; they cannot consider every facet of evidence and what society deems to be right or wrong. In some cases, someone may have committed heinous acts in the view of society, but they may technically not have broken the specific law that they have been charged with. It may be a very challenging line to walk when deliberating such a case.

Depending on the facts of the case and if the jurors are in agreement, the deliberation may only take twenty minutes, or it can take hours.

Some cases are one day trials, while others are scheduled for multiple days.

Most jurors leave the Court house around 5:00 p.m. each day they are called to serve.

What Is Being A Juror Really Like?

Here are some surprising insights from a juror who served in September 2025:

There is more waiting than you would expect; each piece of the process has wait time in-between. Jurors have lots of down time, so it is recommended to bring a laptop to work on, or a book to read.
The Court house cafeteria was surprisingly good! The pricing of the food was fair, the food was better than expected, and they offered a better assortment of drinks than anticipated.
Jurors have the option to submit receipts incurred to serve for reimbursement for about $50 per day of service; so, your courthouse cafeteria lunch could be free!
Everyone who asked to be excused, every single person, was chosen.
Prosecution or defense may want to speak with you after the verdict has been decided to see why you made your decision. This helps them improve their strategies in future cases.
After experiencing a case being argued and speaking with counsels thereafter, you may want to become an attorney yourself!
Serving as a juror in Prince William County is not like it is in movies or television shows. Your preconceived notions of jury duty from movies or television shows will not offer insight to what your experience will be like. Not every case is a high stakes murder trial; some more are simple. Your duty may be to judge someone on a simple bad decision, not necessarily something horrific. It is not always exciting, but it is rewarding because you are making a decision on someone’s rights, livelihood, etc, whatever else would be impacted. You are being trusted by the country and the people around you to make the right decision. It won’t feel like just an inconvenience; it offers insight into what makes our society what it is.
Most people’s first concern when receiving their summons is about their time; that they could be doing other things. As you go through the process, the importance and weight of jury duty will sink in, which changes your perspective on how your time was spent as a juror.

How Can The Hopkins Law Firm Help Me?

The Hopkins Law Firm lawyers Michelle Hopkins and Sydney Remaily offer family law and estate law services. Please do not hesitate to contact their office today at 571-248-2210 or info@mhopkinslaw.com to schedule a consultation. Michelle Hopkins and her legal team are waiting to help you!