They called me for "jury duty"?
You go. You sit on a jury for the term specified. It's all there in the paper; or call the number. You serve because it's your civic duty. No one has time. Jury still has to be seated. Who knows what the trial is about? Each court and jury session is different. You may be deciding a bunch of parking scofflaws or a murder. YOu'll find out when you get there.
I was arrested because I missed jury duty. I never received a summons. What are my options?
You will get a date to appear before the judge.The judge is not going to believe you. (I don’t believe you, and I’ve never even met you.) So, you will have to prove to the judge that you never received the summons.Here is why your story doesn’t sound true: If the summons was not delivered to you, it would have been returned to the city as “undelivered”. But, yours wasn’t. Why? What happened to it?And, by the way, don’t you think that it is a problem for some of your mail to be delivered to an unknown person? Where is the summons? It didn’t simply disappear. Shouldn’t you be tracking down the person who is getting your mail? Maybe you have other important mail that is missing…someone got a check for you…maybe your car got a recall notice and it is going to explode…maybe Aunt Mabel died. Doesn’t that worry you?If that sounds silly to you…then, you likely are not telling the truth. Because a person telling the truth *would* worry about all of that. And that is what the judge is going to think…So, you have your work cut out for you.Make sure that the city sent the summons to the old address. Go to the office and physically look at the address on file. DO NOT ASSUME THAT IT WAS SENT TO THE OLD ADDRESS.When you appear before the judge, dress nice…really, really nice. Address the judge with “Yes, Sir/mam” or “No Mam/Sir.” Be as polite as you possibly can be. Grovel. Really, really grovel. Apologize over and over again. Beg for forgiveness.Bring (1) proof of your new address and (2) proof that the summons was sent to the old address.If you get a lecture from the judge, listen. Do not interrupt. Do not correct. Listen.Good luck.
I've never served jury duty and I just received a letter saying I have to go. What can I expect?
I got called up once for the county and four times by the city. For all jurors, they make them come down there at a ridiculously early time. We had to be there by 8am even though the judges all didn’t show up until 10am. I know when I did county, they were laid back. They checked us in that we were there and we got our jury lanyards and we were either free to sit down and do whatever or grab something to eat. I checked in, snuk outside to have a cigarette, and snuck over to Tower City where they had a McDonalds there to get a breakfast sandwich. I made it back though way before the 10AM arrival of the judges. My experience was very laid back.While I was sitting around waiting for the judges to come, they went over the basic house rules that we were not allowed to talk to any of the attorneys or news media if they were there-most of the attorneys know this and so does the media and they say very little or nothing at all to us which didn’t bother me. At the time, we didn’t have WiFi yet in the courthouse when I did it, so I read a book and ate my food while I was up in there. We weren’t allowed to discuss the case, but I did speak among the jurors and I asked them dumb questions as to what part of the county they came from and what they done for a living-I was just making small talk.
Do foreigners need to respond to a jury duty letter?
You do need to respond to notify the jury selection process that you are not eligible to serve on a jury. I got a similar letter a few years ago as a permanent resident and simply went online and provided information as to why I wasn't eligible. You need to do the same.The letter should provide instructions on how to notify the authority that you are not eligible. Some allow it online, others may require you to return the letter with an explanation.
I missed a jury duty and now I have to go to court for missing it. What should I expect?
Missing jury duty can result in a finding of contempt of court and a possible jail sentence. Whether this could happen to you turns on whether you were properly placed on notice of your duty to appear. If you were just served with notice via regular mail and never mailed anything back to the court or called the court acknowledging your duty to appear, you were probably not properly placed on notice. If you returned documents bearing your signature and promising to appear, were served with notice via certified mail with delivery restricted to you and requiring your signature, or were served with notice by a law enforcement officer or other person authorized serve legal papers, you might be in trouble.In either case, appear in court as ordered, apologize to the court, be respectful and polite to the judge, and ask for mercy. In my experience it's unlikely you'll get anything more than as ass chewing.By the way, I am not suggesting you lie, but if you admit to the court that you received a letter requiring you to call in and ignored it, you might be in hot water. But if you don't remember ever having received such a letter and the court can't prove you got it, there isn't much they can legally do to you.This no NOT meant to be taken as legal advice and any acts or omissions taken in reliance on my answer are entirely at your risk. Moreover, I am NOT suggesting you lie to the court or break any law.
If you don’t go to jury duty when receiving a certified letter, can you be in trouble?
In a word, yes! You will be in trouble. If you just ignore it, you can pretty much expect a knock on your door from a deputy sheriff.That being said, the people sending out jury duty notices are pretty understanding, and I’ve dealt with them a couple times.I received a letter myself, and they were asking me to come in during a time when I was going to be out-of-town. I phoned the clerk of the district court and explained the situation. She asked, “So when will you be back?” I told her, and she had no problem with postponing my summons for jury duty. And when I did get back and received a new summons and reported in, they sent me home and told me to be close to the telephone. I never did get called.The second time it took a little more explaining. I happened to be at my brother’s place, and I spotted the “dreaded letter” sitting on his table. He (now deceased) was intellectually challenged (clinically described as mental retardation), and he just ignored it without telling me about it. Thankfully I discovered it only a few days before he was supposed to report. I had to phone the clerk of the district court and explain his condition, and that he would be unfit for jury duty. It took some time on the phone, and I had to explain that I was his durable power of attorney, but she finally agreed that he was not fit to serve and removed his name.The people who handle jury selection are human, and they do understand mitigating circumstances, so you can explain whatever difficulty you might have with serving. But DON’T ignore the letter! You will be sorry that you did.
My mom was called for jury duty but cannot speak english and is a permanent resident?
on the little stub to mail back, there was something about not being able to attend because,, and then it listed a bunch of reasons--not being able to speak english being one of them. i checked the box and sent the mail but i wasn't sent any notification on whether she still had to go or if she was exempt. The thing that worries me now is that her jury duty date was october 28, which is a month ago and we only realized now, when cleaning out the mail, that she didn't go to jury duty and wasn't sent a notification informing her to go or not go. do you usually get some kind of notification saying it is okay for you not to go to jury duty when you send in the little stub explain why you cant go? it's already been a month since her date and we've heard nothing about any penalties for not showing up to jury duty, etc. is it save to assume there are no problems?
I cannot afford to take off work for jury duty...is this a valid excuse?
I literally cannot afford to take off of work for jury duty...i make so little money and too many bills. I know that your work has to excuse you, but still, i cannot afford it. The summons say to submit anything pertaining to having to miss jury duty to them in writing. Is it worth it to explain in a letter that I need to work and make money that day. Should I attatch paystubs? bills too? Do they take this excuse?
Failing to reply to jury summons, Washington State?
I received a summon for jury duty in the mail (I live in Clark County, Washington State). I read through it, and saw that my jury duty was in mid January, so I thought I could simply show upto report. I didn't see (in very small print in the corner) a passage stating "You must reply to this summons by mail in FIVE DAYS" and right below that stating "Failing to report to jury duty is a misdemeanor offense". I just noticed this today when I reread it. I'm mailing the letter first thing tomorrow with the highest priority, but I'm sure it's been almost two weeks since I got the thing. I'm wondering: -Can I be charged for a misdemeanor in Washington State for failing to reply to a jury summons BY MAIL. I am ready and capable to show up to the actual summons. Thank you for the replies, SERIOUS COMMENTS ONLY!