Except I assume you have to actually raise that concern when responding to your summons.
Instead this man accepted his role as a juror, showed up the first day, and then just overslept.
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Somerville, who works at afterschool programs for the city of West Palm Beach Parks and Recreation Department, received his first ever summons for jury duty over the summer. It was also his first time ever going to the courthouse and sitting in a courtroom. He described it as a little intimidating and a little boring. After a long day of sitting and waiting, Somerville said he was picked to serve as a juror on a civil case and was told to return the following day at 9 a.m.
But he missed his alarm and woke up around 11 or 11:30 a.m. It was almost time to head to his afternoon job so he didn’t bother going to the courthouse or calling the bailiff. He just hoped it would all just work out.
Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/04/florida-judge-jails-man-for-mi.html
…
So if he’d just never shown up in the first place, he’d have been better off?
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California also uses the “One Day/One Trial” system for jury duty, which means when you do show up on the appointed day you’ll only have to be there that day, unless you get picked to serve. It also means that you’re not just sitting around, because everyone who shows up ends up in the courtroom that day, a portion of them end up in the box for voir dire, and a portion of them end up on the actual jury. Everyone else goes home once they’re dismissed for the day and can’t be called again for at least a year. It’s a pretty good system.
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I was in a jury pool and a woman had been selected for the jury before lunch, and then just didn’t show up until like 3PM after lunch. This was before cellphones everywhere, but she acted like she didn’t know she was supposed to come back, or something. It delayed the proceedings for some time and kept everyone around much longer than necessary. Anyway, the tongue lashing she got from the judge was kind of terrifying.
He tossed her off the jury and, IIRC, gave her the choice between 10 hours of community service or a night in jail, which I thought seemed pretty fair. Pretty sure she agreed to the community service.
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I went through three or four days of jury selection on what ended up being a 6.5 week trial. I was down to being of the the last three or four guys left. One of my fellow juror-also rans was former astronaut Ox Van Hoften, so I did get to geek out with him for a few minutes one lunch break. Super nice guy.
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Seems like a pretty harsh sentence for missing jury duty. Unless he was flippant with the judge or something rather than repentant in the courtroom? Plus, why was he out playing basketball when he knew he had missed jury duty? Was that the same day, or a different day?
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But… why go out and play basketball when you woke up late rather than rushing to the courtroom?
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How can they ensure you receive either? Most legal stuff is sent certified mail for a reason
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I got the dates wrong and though it was week X and it turned out to be X-1. I called the number on the letter and eventually talked to a very nice lady who said it was Ok and just retroactively marked me as not available for that week but to be eligible for jury duty again that year.
Unclear, but it seems if he never made it to that judge’s court, he probably wouldn’t be dealing with his wrath. Later reporting shows the judge to be vindictive and unreasonable. He’s been censured before for abusing his office during a traffic stop. Most of the time, if you’re in the unselected jury pool and miss the roll call, you’re rescheduled. In this case, the poor kid got through the big pool, into the courtroom, and through voir dire, then missed his next day where he was a sitting juror.
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HE WAS NO ANGEL /s
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From reading other stories, I understand that the basketball playing was days later, when the subpoena to appear was delivered by the police officer. Still, on the day of his absence, he did nothing to inform the court that he wasn’t coming in for the trial that he was already sworn into as a juror, and they were unable to reach him to find out what was going on, so it’s kind of on him for totally blowing it off.
Sounds like the judge withheld entering the misdemeanor conviction into the record, and is willing to toss it if the guy does his community service and other restitution.
The human brain doesn’t finish developing until age 25.
We expect a lot from kids - at age 16, 18, 21, etc. But neuroscience is what it is.
There have been a number of examples of others who have missed jury duty shared in this thread. Do you really think this judge was reasonable? Do you think this had nothing to do with the defendant’s race?
Examine your own response: you immediately jumped to the conclusion that the kid slept in and played basketball. Meanwhile, white Stanford boys get less jail time for rape.
Think about it.
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Stanford boys who rape should go away for a loooong long time. And judges that let them off will be removed from the bench, and barred from coaching girls tennis teams, as they have been.
But… he did sleep in, and then did not bother to tell the court, hoping it would, in his words, just ‘work itself out’. I did not ‘jump to the conclusion’ that he played basketball. If you will read above, I asked if it was on the same day or not. It wasn’t clear at first. As I followed up, it was on a different day.
Still, to be sworn in to a jury, and then just ghost, is a big deal. He did not miss a jury assembly summons, he missed a trial. If everyone did that with slap-on-the-wrist consequences, it would bring our trial by jury system to a standstill.
Now, as I stated above, 10 days in jail seems pretty harsh, especially in light of the fact that, on further reading about this story, he did NOT seem to act flippant in court, and was apologetic.
He definitely owes a bunch of community service and a fine. His jail time punishments were later reduced by the judge, but he had already served his time. He’s not ‘harmed for life’, but has learned a valuable civics lesson.
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It’s literally six posts up. We can all read it.
Do you mean
See the stated uncertainty? It’s encapsulated in the second sentence.
Yeah, I think your question might get to the heart of it.
Assurance of delivery is the presumption upon which punishment depends.
It’s a whole ‘nother level between failing to show for a random jury pool, vs failing to show after you’ve been actually impanelled.
The first can be excused for NOT READING EVERY PIECE OF MAIL, every day.
The latter is more challenging to forgive. Once you’re actually seated on a jury, you’re part of the process, like it or not.
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