Does the US court system not refund travel cost? Over here you can get full refund of travel cost if you are summoned to court(within reason - if you travel first class you will only get price of a normal ticket back).
I'm sorry, I'm actually laughing out loud for that one. No, they do not refund any cost you incur for going to court.
Luckily, I wasn't accused of any drug crimes or they may have seized my car and kept it under then-existing asset forfeiture (legal theft) laws
IIRC, the judge's opinion was something like "Well, we followed all the procedures correctly, it doesn't matter if the wrong conclusion was reached"
Looks like there are some attempts to provide compensation, but they vary
https://www.innocenceproject.org/compensating-wrongly-convic...
Even the juror compensation is something ridiculous like $10/day. I don't think subpoenaed witnesses are compensated for anything.
Yes, it seems logical if jurors would be compensated at least as the minimal wage per hour. In small communities it could probably lead to something like 'professional juror' but I think it could be dealt with by monthly/yearly cap for compensation.
A median for the defense is about $1500, including all the cheap plea bargains that don't go to a time-consuming expensive trial. A starting price for a misdemeanor that goes to trial might be $2000-$3000. Felonies and long, complicated trials just go up from there.
You may be thinking of a civil defense, where you can work out to pay nothing if you lose, but they're going to take some of the pot if you win. Or of a public defender, who is nominally free, but most states charge a few hundred to a couple thousand in court fees anyway.
Even if a charge sticks, they will be better then you at pleading it down and/or negotiating reduced fines when possible.
Again, it's likely going to be cheaper then travel costs and you should have a lawyer anyway, right from the very start. It sucks to be unfairly targeted but there is an easy way out. I hire a lawyer for even the most minor traffic violations and they really can save you money once you factor all costs (insurance rates, etc...).
Protip: If you have to appear in front of a judge, try your best to be the first party the judge sees in the morning or right after lunch. Your chances of a favorable judgment lessen as time wears on and judge's get cranky. I use this same philosophy for job interviews: try to appear before the interviewer at the least stressful time, and they are more likely to view you favorably.
ALWAYS lawyer up with the best you can afford. Justice may be blind, but the more money you have and, accordingly, the higher a quality of lawyer you can afford, the more "justice" you will receive.
That's why it's so difficult for rich/powerful people to ever land inside a jail cell.
Which is why it has never found its way into the courts.
Although it's a little dense, a really good book on American legal culture is Adversarial Legalism by robert Kagan. Culturally the US is absolutely obsessed with property rights and the exhaustive accounting for them has provided fertile soil for a whole forest of complex litigation practices.
Many people would rather spent $10,000 on fighting a court case than pay $500 that they felt was unjustly billed to them. I once worked for a guy who got in a dispute with someone he had hired over ownership of the work product - he had not paid the bill for the photography and so the photographer was sitting on the footage. He took the photographer to small claims court; the court basically said 'meh, pay him what you owe and you, photographer, hand over the footage when he does.' We went outside and my erstwhile boss said 'well I showed him! that's the last time someone sues ME!' I literally walked away on the spot and never returned any of his calls even though he owed me some money; for my own sanity and safety I can not be around someone with that level of cognitive dissonance. I liked the guy, a lot, but he was literally editing reality in his head to fit his feelings from moment to moment. That sort of person is dangerous.
https://www.gov.uk/going-to-court-victim-witness/expenses-fo...
Where I'm originally from(Poland) it was the same - I was summoned to court, after the trial I went to the clerk, said where I drove from and was paid cash for fuel. Had I taken the train it would have been refunded fully.
Over here (Finland), if you are witness, you are compensated (meagerly, not always reasonable).
If you are the accused, you pay for your own travel - so the professional criminal class just skips the trial, thereby causing lot of unnecessary hassle to witnesses and injured parties. Then a new trial date is set, and on the nth try the police might pick up the accused, and bring him or her to trial (at no cost), then to be released on a conditional discharge.
[0] http://e-prawnik.pl/artykuly/postepowanie-przed-sadem/zwrot-...