Jury Duty: consequence of no show?

General Questions
#1

Son supposed to go in for jury duty tomorrow. Weather bitter cold. Unable to get any response all day of calling to confirm that the courthouse is even open and no response to e-mail inquiry either. Him getting there means him driving me to work at hospital to make rounds, waiting for me and then dropping me off at the office and booking it from there to make to the courthouse 40 minutes away. Then coming back at night to get me.

Under these weather circumstances and with his multiple attempts to call and e-mail to find out if the courthouse is even open what would be the consequence if he failed to show? Cook Coounty IL.

#2

Ask this guy:

I’m not saying that your son will be arrested or fined, but he can be.

#3

I’m not in Chicago, but in Atlanta, it’s unusual for a judge to muster the energy to enforce jury duty attendance. Generally, enough people show up to provide an adequate jury pool and nobody frets too much about the no-shows.

HOWEVER, once in a while a judge will get a bug up his/her butt and order a mass roundup (taking care to notify the media, so as to impress upon the public the importance of attendance).

#4

It’s a bit different to miss your assigned day than to skip out in the middle of a trial. If you miss your day, then call in an apologize saying whatever made sense. Usually they’ll simply assign you a different day.

#5

The link is appreciated but yes, skipping out in the middle of trial is a bit different than not showing for the selection pool. Of note that article specifies that in some districts more than a third of the pool are no shows. What consequence happens to them?

My wife is upset that he would consider not going so you know how this is playing out … he’s going. (Unless I hear from an expert that it is not worth it under these circumstances.) And I believe in the civic duty. I’ve shown up for my times, taken off work, the whole thing. But still I am curious.

My prediction is that he will go, sit an hour and be released as lawyers will request weather related delays or judges will not show due to weather. And he’ll be aggravated but done with it.

#6

A previous thread that may be of interest: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=694096

#7

Chicago? In this weather? He should stay home and call the courthouse on Wednesday or Thursday to reschedule, if they don’t tell him they already did it for him. I don’t think any judge would blame him for a no-show under prevailing conditions.

#8

What are the rules there for appearance? Like California you call in to an automated system the night before to find out if you have to show up.

#9

I’m also in Cook County. Once I just forgot about a notice until 2 days after it was due. I called the courthouse and they said they’d just reschedule me.

In theory you could be in trouble. In practice that’s extremely unlikely.

#10

I still have a warrant out for my arrest for skipping jury duty in the 1970s, I think. Do those things expire?

Just sayin.

#11

CNN is reporting that polar bears and penguins at the Lincoln Park Zoo are being taken indoors for their own protection. Seems it’s too cold for them. I think getting a safe pass on this one would be a fait accompli.

#12

For what it’s worth, the Circuit Court of Cook County was open today, so I expect it would be tomorrow as well. From the horse’s mouth.

#13

I had the same concern - I was scheduled as a stand-by juror for Jan 6 (yesterday) at Daley Plaza and lucked out - they were taking people with last names starting with E thru N. If I’d gotten picked I would have gone, despite the weather. Why? Umm, I skipped last time - this would have been my reschedule. I figured consequences from being a no-show twice in a row would be dire. Now for the relevant-to-you bit:

I had scheduled a trip months in advance when I got the previous notice, and goody-two-shoes that I am I was going to call and request a re-schedule. An aunt of mine is a court clerk and she (along with several other people) said the best thing to do was just blow it off. Because everyone tries to get out of jury duty, they ignore any requests to re-schedule out of hand regardless of the reason, but if you just don’t show up… they re-schedule. It’s when you’re a repeat no-show that the sheriffs stop by and cart you off.

#14

One thing I’ve wondered as I’ve lived overseas – what if I got a jury duty notice at my last US address, and I never knew because I was out of the country? On my return, would I need to worry about being arrested for this during a traffic stop? I’m sure I’d be able to clear it up afterward, but it’d suck being arrested for something like this while (say) I’m back home for a brief vacation.

#15

Get a log of his phone calls and a copy of the email and he should be golden. He’s made a significant attempt to confirm.

#16

I’ve even heard about jury duty notices sent to my parent’s house long after I moved out. I basically ignored it, but I have wondered how on earth they plan to enforce this. How can they expect to arrest me after sending a notice to a house I don’t even live at?

#17

When I did jury duty here in Washington a bit shy of three years ago, the person who ran the morning briefing said that failure to appear was technically a felony, but that the courts hadn’t actually bothered to enforce the statute for several years because they had bigger fish to fry.

#18

Same situation for me. We’ve been overseas for 11 years, but are in the process of moving back to the USA. I never received a jury notice, but the post in Georgia was completely unreliable and in the Czech Republic it was mostly unreliable (in an average year they lose 2 monthly statements from the internet company).

Who knows if we missed a jury notice?

#19

When my wife had jury duty they were so happy to have people show up that they were treated like kings. A clerk went out and got them Starbucks and bagels (OK maybe kings eat better). My wife enjoyed the experience so much that after the trial she asked for an appointment with the judge to ask her about careers in the legal field. The judge actually cried she was so happy.

So maybe no negatives for not showing, but some positives if you do show.