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Got a letter from the district court, they want me to be on a jury, now what?
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JDH SE IA
Posted 6/20/2009 22:43 (#752049 - in reply to #751247)
Subject: RE: Got a letter from the district court, they want me to be on a jury, now what?


Burlington, IA		Interesting. Well, just because you "don't think so", doesn't mean it's so. I can see why some people construe your high degree of confidence in your correctness, as arrogance. You must be a real joy to live with. Since you "don't think so" where contempt of court is concerned from ignoring a jury summons, then why don't you put your money where your mouth is, and try ignoring the next jury letter you get, and see what happens. If you're right, should be no problem. Let us all know how that turns out for you.

I don't claim to know how it works in other counties. All I'm concerned with is how it works in this one. In the first place, the clerk's office makes sure that letter isn't going to be mistaken for junk mail. Secondly, the fact those letters are being delivered in such a small area (basically locally), reduces the chances that a letter would be lost, to nearly nil. They know whether those letters are being received. "Here", part of the information that letter contains, is a number to a dedicated phone line at the county courthouse, which you are instructed to call every morning of your jury term, for instruction about when and if to report at the courthouse for duty as part of the jury pool. The only exception to calling that number on a daily basis, is if the prerecorded message tells you that there are no hearings on the docket for a given period, maybe that week, and tells you when to call back in again. That letter also tells you what to do if you have a conflict because of work or other reasons.

Let's see, did I mention a LIST? "Here", when a person reports to the courthouse for jury duty as part of the pool, there is a person from the clerk's office present, with a LIST of names of all those called for jury duty who haven't been previously excused. And if a person is ignoring said jury notice, then they haven't been excused. Said person goes through the LIST name by name, and your absence or presence that day is duly noted. They don't care whether a person is absent accidentally, or purposely ignoring said jury summons, the result is the same. They will contact that person again, possibly by letter or phone, but more generally by a personal visit by a uniformed officer from the sheriff's department, with written instructions to appear for jury duty, with the penalties for not doing so spelled out in no uncertain terms. They can and will be charged with contempt if the court so desires.

The bottom line is, ignoring a summons to jury duty falls under the category of "stupid is as stupid does". Contrary to your certainty, contempt of court is a very real consequence if an individual chooses to ignore his/her notice for jury duty. Like I said, try it, since you're so sure. But you're on your own for bail money, grasshopper.

JDH

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