So a French (non-green card) coworker just received a jury summons and notification of polling place. What are the consequences of his participating in either?
I presume that serving on the jury could be contempt of court due to lying that he was a citizen by his attending. But would he be doing anything illegal by voting? Washington state, if that makes a difference.
Yes, voting when ineligible to vote is illegal. I’ve heard of one case where a non-citizen was subject to deportation for enrolling and voting.
You can ignore the notification of polling place, since there’s no penalty for not voting, but with the jury summons, I’d ring up which ever official sent it, and explain that I wasn’t a citizen. Otherwise you might be subject to a penalty for ignoring the summons.
You wouldn’t need to call them. In my experience the jury summons has a box you can check that you’re ineligible, and then you just need to mail it back.
I wonder what would happen if you were on the wrong side of a jury verdict of a case where a non citizen sat. I assume it would be like any other case where a juror lied about something to get on the panel. As I recall, every potential juror is asked basic questions like “are you at least 18 years old, a citizen, non felon, etc?”. So, if there was no goof up, the French guy in the OP will get a chance to tell the court he shouldn’t be there.
Indeed. I’m a green card holder and have gotten a jury summons here in Sacramento. The summons has a simple form to mail back with a check box for claiming you are ineligible due to not being a citizen.
I don’t think that was what the opening post was asking though - I think they were asking what would happen if the non-citizen followed through and served on the jury. Is it a mistrial, do they go to alternatives, etc?
So first you have to fill out the card as if you are eligible. Then you have to be selected for jury duty. Then you have to show up and not want to find a way to get out of it. Don’t they normally do screening when you show up, check your ID?
Then you have to be selected for a jury pool for voir dire. Then you have to sit through voir dire and not get kicked off for some other reason, like your funny accent. And have to actually get selected for a juror. Then get sworn in.
During that process somewhere along the line you are going to have to affirm that you are a citizen and eligible to be a juror. If you don’t point out that you are not and are for some reason not caught, and actually make it to a jury before it is found out, then the court has to address it the way they would any other situation when a juror is found unfit. During the trial, this would be to select an alternate.
After the verdict, would this be grounds for appeal? Possibly, but I think it would be hard to get granted. Maybe a lawyer can speak up about that.
“In the second place, there was no prejudice. The fact that a juror technically should have been disqualified, and was not, does not automatically require a new trial. Rather, even if the problem had been unknowable at an earlier date, appellants would still have to shoulder the burden of establishing harm.FN7 See United States v. Currie, 609 F.2d 1193, 1194 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 928, 100 S.Ct. 1314, 63 L.Ed.2d 760 (1979); United States v. Silverman, 449 F.2d 1341, 1344 (2d Cir.1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 918, 92 S.Ct. 943, 30 L.Ed.2d 788 (1972). As we have said:
FN7. We emphatically reject the appellants’ suggestion that we, unlike our sister circuits, adopt a per se rule mandating automatic retrial whenever an ineligible juror happens to sit.”
United States v. Uribe, 890 F.2d 554, 562 (1st Cir. 1989).
There have been cases where a member of the jury has gotten seriously sick or died during deliberations, after all the alternates have been dismissed. Usually, the Judge orders the jurors to continue, and deliver a verdict from the remaining 11 jurors. (The Judge may have to ask both sides to agree to this before proceeding. Seems like they usually do; they’ve already gone through a whole trial and don’t want to start over.)
I would think this might be a similar situation – the verdict of the other 11 jurors would be accepted.
Just a note on this. I don’t know how it works in other specific places, but when I went to serve on jury duty, before you go up to the courtroom for selection, everyone was gathered in a room in the basement where the processing/paperwork etc was done. As part of the processing, we had to show proof of citizenship. And yes, here there are several boxes on the paper you have to mail back which will mark you as ineligible.
I imagine that the exact details vary slightly from state to state so YMMV. Still, if you want to be really 100% absolutely sure, calling would work too.
As someone else said, only citizens are eligible and attempting to do these things when you are ineligible is illegal.
It’s not a similar situation, since the participation by the ineligible juror in the delibarations of the jury may well have influenced the verdict of the eligible jurors.
FrustratedIdiot’s cite suggests that the courts do not generally order retrial, since the participation of an ineligible juror does not in itself threaten harm or prejudice to the defendant. Presumably, if the facts of a particular case suggested that there was a prejudice to the defendant from a juror’s ineligibility, a retrial would be ordered.**
By the same token an election is not routinely annulled if an ineligible person casts a vote.
I’ve heard that some courts will, if you say on the form that you are ineligible due to not being a US Citizen, will write back and ask for proof of legal presence in the US. (I assume a visa, or a passport from a country that doesn’t require a US visa if the person is a foreign tourist who somehow got on the list). If true, one could see that an illegal immigrant could be tempted to just say yes…
Someone already here said that seating a non-citizen was non-reversible error unless clear prejudice can be shown. Anyone have a cite to a statute or case where a foreigner was seated as a juror and someone complained later?
It’s most likely to be a permanent resident card (aka a “green card”) that the foreigner would hold. A green card is not a visa.
So you mean that US authorities keep track of the whereabouts of people but have no idea if they are US citizens or not? :dubious:
I am not your lawyer; this is not legal advice. Your French coworker should obey the law and, if in doubt, seek qualified local counsel.
Revised Code of Washington State §2.36.070. Qualification of juror
A person shall be competent to serve as a juror in the state of Washington unless that person:
(1) Is less than eighteen years of age;
(2) Is not a citizen of the United States;
(3) Is not a resident of the county in which he or she has been summoned to serve;
(4) Is not able to communicate in the English language; or
(5) Has been convicted of a felony and has not had his or her civil rights restored.
*RCW §2.36.072. Determination of juror qualification - Written or electronic declaration *
(1) Each court shall establish a means to preliminarily determine by a written or electronic declaration signed under penalty of perjury by the person summoned, the qualifications set forth in RCW 2.36.070 of each person summoned for jury duty prior to their appearance at the court to which they are summoned to serve.
…
(4) Upon receipt by the summoning court of a written declaration stating that a declarant does not meet the qualifications set forth in RCW 2.36.070, that declarant shall be excused from appearing in response to the summons. If a person summoned to appear for jury duty fails to sign and return a declaration of his or her qualifications to serve as a juror prior to appearing in response to a summons and is later determined to be unqualified for one of the reasons set forth in RCW 2.36.070, that person shall not be entitled to any compensation…
*§ 9A.72.020. Perjury in the first degree *
(1) A person is guilty of perjury in the first degree if in any official proceeding he makes a materially false statement which he knows to be false under an oath required or authorized by law.
(2) Knowledge of the materiality of the statement is not an element of this crime, and the actor’s mistaken belief that his statement was not material is not a defense to a prosecution under this section.
(3) Perjury in the first degree is a class B felony.
Class B felonies can be punished by prison terms of up to ten years. RCW 9A.20.021.
I don’t see anything in Washington State law about what happens to a jury verdict when it turns out that one of the jurors is ineligible, but generally agree with the approaches mentioned upthread.
It depends what you mean by “US authorities”. In my case:
(1) The federal government knows about me through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, since I got a green card from its predecessor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service. They have my current address, and know I’m not a citizen.
(2) The feds also know about me because I pay income tax and social security tax. So the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration know my address, but don’t know whether I’m a citizen or not.
(3) I have an Ohio driver’s license, so the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles knows my address, but doesn’t know if I’m a citizen or not. (I did have to prove legal residence when I first got the license).
(4) The income tax people in Ohio, in the city where I live, and in the city where I work know my address, but again don’t know if I’m a citizen.
As to voter fraud…
I am still not your lawyer; this is not legal advice. Your French coworker should obey the law and, if in doubt, seek qualified local counsel.
*Revised Code of Washington State §29A.08.010. Minimum information required for voter registration *
(1) The minimum information provided on a voter registration application that is required in order to place a voter registration applicant on the voter registration rolls includes:
(a) Name;
(b) Residential address;
© Date of birth;
(d) A signature attesting to the truth of the information provided on the application; and
(e) A check or indication in the box confirming the individual is a United States citizen.
*§29A.84.030. Penalty *
A person who willfully violates any provision of this title regarding the conduct of mail ballot primaries or elections is guilty of a class C felony…
Class C felonies are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, or both. §9A.20.021.
Class B felonies (mentioned in my earlier post) are punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $20,000 fine, or both.
As I mentioned earlier, on top of those state penalties, an alien may subject to deportation for a felony of that kind.
Very likely.