I live in Missouri. What will happen to me if I blow off jury duty completely?
If you’re in the Kansas City area, then according to this site:
“A person summoned for jury service who willfully fails to appear, is in civil contempt of court. An order may issue directing the person to a hearing where the person may show good cause for failure to appear as summoned. If the individual fails to show good cause for failing to appear, the court may impose a fine for as much as $500 and may order the prospective juror to perform community service for a time no less than would have been spent in jury service.”
I suspect it’s pretty much like that throughout the state, though I guess it could vary with different judicial circuits.
ETA: Saw you’re in St. Louis. According to this site:
“A person who fails to appear or respond may be guilty of criminal contempt, enforceable by an order to show cause for the failure to comply and by a fine up to $250.00.”
That seems to be for the state as a whole; it may be that St. Louis has further penalties the way Jackson County does.
Worst-case scenario? You’re found in contempt of court and a bench warrant is issued for you. The next time you’re pulled over for a broken taillight, the nice officer runs your name through the computer and discovers this warrant in the system. You’re hauled before a judge and fined and/or sentenced to community service.
So yeah. I wouldn’t.
Well, I’m screwed then! I rec’d the summons at my parents’ house and they passed the info along to me; however, I thought the date was for tomorrow, but it was today. :smack:
A related question. Say the notice had gotten sent to a previous address of mine and the current residents just tossed it in the trash. I would never have even known about this summons if it hadn’t gone to my parents’ house. Anyway, what should I do? Make a phone call? or what?
call the clerk of courts or whoever it says to contact on the summons if you have questions. explain that it was sent to an old address and it caused a problem and you want them to arrange another date for you to show up for jury duty.
Sure, contact them. If it doesn’t seem to be resolved by phone, I’d try to go to the courthouse and speak to the judge or his bailiff. I expect they’ll be more understanding if you present yourself with your explanation and apology than if they issue a warrant and come after you. With luck, they’ll forgo the fine and just reschedule your duty.
ETA: From my second link above: “If you have any questions, contact the jury office of the court that summoned you at the telephone number on the documents you received.” They will excuse for cause; I expect if you call and explain they’ll work with you (probably reschedule).
My experience has been that jury offices are very relaxed about people not appearing by mistake - they’ll just reschedule you. The only time they’ll make an issue out of it is if they think you’re willfully ignoring a summons.
And they can’t prove you even got the summons unless they sent it certified mail. Chances are they’ll just reschedule you, and that will be that.
Thanks, all. I just left a message with my reason for not showing up and the recording said that if there was a problem, I would be contacted.
Always best to e proactive in cases such as this. I’d received a summons years back for service in St. Louis County. I called and said that I had a vacation trip scheduled for that week. They said no problem, we’ll slide you down the list a ways. I received another summons about a year later and served then.
Lest anyone think the judges look the other way if people just skip jury duty without an excuse . . . I remember sitting in a court room the first time I had jury duty, and the judge was quite vocal about the high number of people that didn’t show up. He said he would be spending his lunch time that day signing summonses to bring the people in.
If a jury summons was sent by regular mail, so there’s no proof of receipt, how can a court rule that someone has intentionally ignored a summons? Of course, if a second summons is also ignored, then maybe some case can be built. However, even then, maybe the intended recipient of the summons has moved. So I don’t quite understand how a court can effectively enforce what is essentially a voluntary service. A very important, necessary service IMO, but one that must rely on volunteers that are recruited via jury summons.
+1
It never got that far for me, but due to notices being sent to an out of date address, I ended up missing two jury calls and had a bench warrant issued (somehow they got the address right for that). I had to run down to court the next Monday and grovel with the Judge to get it vacated. I still carry around the vacating order in my wallet for fear of just what you describe – a traffic stop and out of date information on the cop’s computer.
Don’t ignore it.
I’ll agree with everyone else. Just call the number on the paper and let them know what happened. I doubt they’ll be all that worried about it and probably just pick a new date/week.
Also, I know a few people in Milwaukee that said they just threw out their summons and that was the end of it. Never heard another thing about it. I’m not sure what you have to do for yours, but in Milwaukee when you get it you have to call a number and register. My guess is that if you don’t register, they probably just assume that you didn’t get it (or ignored it) and as long as they don’t have a shortage it’s probably not worth their time to go after the no-shows.
This is one of those things that varies hugely between jurisdictions. There is also a huge variance between what the law says and what actually happens in practice.
I have never blown off jury duty although I have asked to be rescheduled a few times. My town gets a really high rate of people who do show up so I don’t think that they spend any resources going after the scofflaws. I have known a couple of people who told me they have been throwing jury duty notices in the garbage for decades without problems.
Two questions.
Were you instructed to come in yesterday or to call in to see if they needed you to come? I’ve gotten several notices and have never gotten beyond the call in stage.
Do you still live in the same court jurisdiction? If you now live in a different county, or whatever the boundary is, you may no longer qualify for that jury.
I live in MA, but when I went to jury duty the guy in charge said they are generally very accommodating to people who actually try to serve. Its the ones that blow it off completely that won’t get consideration. He said if you can’t make your date, call to reschedule or at worst show up some other day in the same general time frame and explain your situation. Make an effort, and they will generally be nice. At least that what he said.
I’m willing to bet if you just showed up on the wrong day (off by one) they wouldn’t make a big deal out of it at all. They most likely would let you serve on the day you showed up. If you show up willing to serve, you clearly aren’t trying to shirk your duties.
I missed a summons in St. Louis County court (just flat out forgot the date). I called, explained, and they rescheduled for later.
Can I ask a related question? I’ve been summoned for jury duty next month and I’m simply wondering whether I’ll be asked straight up if there’s anything I feel might disqualify me, or if I’ll only be asked certain questions and have to stick to that? The reason I’m asking is that I’m friends and family to local police officers and good friends with a forensic psychiatrist who often testifies as an expert in court… it would be awkward, to say the least, to risk being a juror on a case where any of them may show up!
That’s one of the standard questions - in addition to specific people that they know will testify, there are generally “do you know any police officers” (I think the theory is that, in general, the prosecutor would want to keep you and the defense drop you).
But if you know someone who specifically be involved in a trial, you won’t sit on that jury.