My husband got a summons to appear for jury duty a few weeks ago. He really doesn’t mind doing it, but he has a learning disability and he can only read at about a second grade level, he has common sense and has no real trouble getting around in the world.
When he got the summons, he called and spoke to the clerk about his learning disability, she told him to write a letter explaining it and send it to court, he did and recieved a letter in response telling him to show up anyway.
Now he’s worried that if he has to go, he will make the trial last longer because he has to have everything read to him and really can’t understand a lot of the big words.
He tried to get a letter from his doctor to confirm that he has a problem, but he hasn’t seen the doc for over 20 years and the doc is no longer alive.
So, what should he do now ? And where do they get the $9.00 a day thing ? (That doesn’t bother him, but it bugs me)
Ultimately, the jury room supervisor or a judge will decide whether or not to dismiss someone from service. Depending upon how hard up they are for jurors, he may get called to go to a courtroom.
If he were called into the jury box, the judge and the attorneys would then decide whether or not they want to keep him as a juror. If the people at the courthouse have any common sense (and most do), they will settle the situation without much commotion.
As for getting paid, that depends upon your jurisdiction. In Los Angeles County, you don’t get paid (except for mileage) if you only serve one day. But your jurisdiction’s rule will vary.
We get 9 dollar checks too its part of the law. A slight hijack, but something I find interesting is that the checks we are given are made out “to the bearer” so who ever has possesses it can cash it and because of this many of the restaurants around the court house treat the check like a 9 dollar bill (taking it as payment for meals and giving change, etc., for it). I thought it was an interesting example of how different things can evolve into
currency.