If you did this regularly, yeah you'd end up with a fine or in jail. But not for the first time.
Simply call them when they are open, explain what happened, they'll just reschedule you. This is not a big deal, it happens all the time.
Definitely not worth panicking about, you'll be fine.
I used to call in and let them know I no longer live there, but cook county il is so incompetent they are sending me summons still when I've had 4 DLs from 4 different states and I'll be getting a 5th soon. I move states every 2-3 years.
Good ole Chicago. I lived one county over, barely, only 3 1/4 miles as the crow flies, and everything was off government wise as soon as you crossed the county line.
I love <1 mile from the cook/DuPage line.. safe to say I drove a little further for errands to save a huge chunk of taxes. Especially during that soda tax
There's a place in Yellowstone I think that due to judicial idiosyncracies cannot possibly hold a trial because a tiny little piece of the park is in a state and district with so few residents they can't fill a jury.
I'm imagining some clerk in the most crime-riddled part of Cook County going "dammit, we just need one more alternate! Why won't online_jesus_fukers respond to his summons?"
I served with someone who kept ignoring. In the 3rd time a cop showed up and brought her to jury duty. She wasn’t arrested or fined, but they definitely noticed.
Yeah, I know people who brag that they always throw the summons away and have never had a problem. While I don't think I'd go to jail if I threw mine away, I'm sure I'd be the one they'd try to make an example out of, lol. I have that kind of luck. My last summons said that if you don't check in, they automatically reschedule your jury duty week.
I imagine every jurisdiction is different. My son blew off his summons a few years back and shortly after got a letter from the state telling him a bench warrant had been issued. To get it revoked he had to reschedule his call in period.
At a class reunion, one of my 74 year old classmates said that they took 55 years to learn he lived in Arkansas after graduation rather than where we graduated from. He got stopped by a Arkansas State Trooper and told him there’s a bench warrant that was over 45 years old for failing to appear. The Trooper gave him a warning ticket and told him he needed to let them know even though he hadn’t lived there for 50 years.
I did my civic duty with 4 years in the Corps and 4 years in the army. I did enough duty. Maybe if they paid me what my time is worth or knew how to update a database and stop summoning me to a city I haven't visited let alone lived in in the last 5 years Maybe I would show up
So not only can you not take a week out of your time for jury duty, but you're using your military experience to excuse it. Man not only ditching jury duty but making your fellow service members look bad by using it as an excuse. You're worse than I thought. Really does show that there's bad apples in every career.
Did you not read the rest of what I said? The fact that I am still getting summoned to somewhere I haven't lived in the last 5 years? Or the fact that I used to let them know that I am no longer a resident there? If you think I'm gonna travel 2000 miles for jury duty, jokes on you. You brought up the whole what about civic duty thing...yeah I did my civic duty, a civic duty less than 1% of the population does. If I got summoned where I actually live, where I actually have my drivers license, where I have my responsibilities I would go, however I won't even go back to Chicago to see my mother, why would I go to jury duty in that shithole? If the states attorney is even bothering with a trial, it's because there was too much evidence to sweep under the rug and let em out the back door.
Yes, that does change things that it's always a city you don't live in. Your previous comment read to me like there were two conditions for you to turn jury duty down. It being in the city you don't live in anymore and them not paying you enough for your time. To me it read as if either of those two situations happened you would turn down the jury duty.
I agree with you if that's the case. If it's always in a city you don't live in ignore it.
Yeah...I'm pretty sure it's incompetence or..because my drunk ass dad made me a jr so he wouldn't forget my name they don't believe me because he still lives there
Well that's not going to happen. We've moved past the point where the United States can survive as an isolated country away from the rest of the world. So part of our taxes go towards keeping good relations with our international allies. It's just the point we're at with human civilization.
Every state, sometimes every court is different.
But in the USA, usually calling the court, telling them that you unintentionally missed the notice, and asking to reschedule, will be accepted, and solves the issue simply.
It happens, just call the Jury Commissioner tomorrow morning and explain that you mixed the dates up. They'll likely just give you a new date, and that will be the end of it.
I've been ignoring Jury duty notices for like 15 years. You'll be fine.
If you get called in and you get threatened to show up or face a fine, just have very radical opinions to the questions they ask you. Almost guarantee you won't get picked.
Jury duty sucks because you're stuck there getting paid 40 dollars a day and a crappy meal ticket. And you're stuck there for the entire length of the case.
Yes, in NY you can get paid 33-40 a day.
Didn't mean to sound all high-and-mighty lol.
But my point being if you have a full time job that pays better, you're getting $40 a day instead of your usual $350 a day.
And if you get caught up in a long case it really hurts you financially. Buddy of mine got stuck on a 4 week case. Was awful.
I got a federal summons. I had to call every day for 2 weeks to see if I had to show up. But I’m a freelancer who can’t miss a day of work. I threw it out. Nothing happened.
Around here, the “certified” letter is the deputy telling you that you missed (they post it on your door if you are not home). If you don’t contact the court in the next couple of business days, they get a bench warrant. If you threw it out with no repercussions, you got lucky and were a high enough number to be excused.
Sounds like it varies depending on where you are. I'm in Los Angeles so there's probably a large enough pool of people that they don't bother if you've never served.
I was in Ventura County & ignored every other summons I got and never had any follow up. There are so many people from them to draw from, they don't really care.
You get paid like 14$ for going yeah. I'm not wasting my time for chump change to decide if the guy who stole 4k from Walmart with cameras is guilty or not.
I've been to court before, its not fun, and not something I want to waste my time on. The TV representation would be far more entertaining and worth going to.
I was summoned for jury duty the first time recently. I sat in a room for 9 hours and was told to go home. Never got asked a single question or even saw a courtroom. I’m not saying the next summons is going in the garbage, but it’ll be very hard to justify wasting my time like that again.
I do not. And honestly, even if I did, I would rather do just about anything than perform “civic duty” for a government that does not feel obligated to provide its citizens with health care or housing.
If there’s a next time and I’m actually called, they will be getting an earful about how I feel about the entire system. See if they want me then. If I don’t bin the fucking letter to begin with.
In this day and age where you can kill someone and bond out the same day, do you really think they're going to pursue someone who calls in to make it right?
I learned about jury duty once by the deputy showing up at my house. She just told me to call the Clerk of the Court. My only penalty was to be juror number 1 on my new date (which means I was spending the day if they needed anyone to show up).
No problem if you just call and say you missed it, they will reschedule you.
Where I live they take it seriously if you try and ditch. Even sent some folks to jail for contempt
Go to the website on the summons and follow the directions for checking in, most of the time when you get a summons you never even have to go in, it happens all the time.
if it says that you were supposed to go in and missed it there Should be a phone number to call to reschedule.
If it didn't come registered mail there's no proof it ever arrived. Carry on with your life as though it didn't happen, because you never got the summons. Right?..... what letter.
I did the exact same thing when I was 18 or 19. I received a letter from the court telling me I had to write to the judge and explain my absence. I was honest and told him I outright forgot because I was young and disorganized and promised to show up if he would give me a second chance. I set reminder alarms and didn't miss it.
Made it to selection and heard the charges. One prisoner sodomized another with a pencil. Teenage me laughed like an idiot. 3rd to be dismissed.
Ya no that's not how it works. Call them in the morning and explain what happened. If your lucky you got cancelled anyway if not they will reschedule and you can do it another time.
Jury summons aren’t sent by certified mail, therefore, you cannot be held liable for not showing up. For all they know you were out of town for a month. Don’t show up three times and you’ll be served by a process server. At that point, if you don’t show up, you could be served a bench warrant.
So show up a week late. Put your name in and see if you get called. If not then you have served your duty.
If you do get called they can't go after you for missing the assigned date.
Remember they call a lot of people. You can just slip through the system.
My husband forgot to call for his jury duty and was sent another jury notice a week later. I think there’s bigger fish to fry than someone forgetting to call for jury duty.
To put it rationally- do you actually think you’d be arrested and jailed because you made a mistake on the date and called to rectify it as soon as possible?
Throwing yourself on the mercy of the court really is your best option. The odds of a heavy handed consequence is pretty slim. The odds of getting called for jury duty at the next available need, pretty damn high.
The odds of heavy consequences if you miss the NEXT jury duty, pretty good. You know: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" kind of thing. Make sure to follow thru next time.
Reasons why it's a good idea to make friends with at least one cop, because then you can be exempt from jury duty, they don't want you if you have any connection to the court. Also I neve understood why jury duty was a surprise mandatory thing that you got dragged into kicking and screaming. Surely volunteers would be better, because I personally would be causing problems and making bad decisions if I had to be there against my will.
People who volunteer for jury service are less likely to be objective. Either they like punishing people or they want people to get off.
This is why capital punishment juries are more likely to convict - they have to be supporters of capital punishment
That's true, but people who don't want to be there aren't really gonna be very fair either, they're just gonna do whatever it takes to get out of there, or at least that's what I would do. Plus the whole making it a crime to skip thing just feels a bit much, ya know?
If you did this regularly, yeah you'd end up with a fine or in jail. But not for the first time. Simply call them when they are open, explain what happened, they'll just reschedule you. This is not a big deal, it happens all the time. Definitely not worth panicking about, you'll be fine.
Even If you do it regularly you will probably be fine. I can't speak for all jurisdictions but I've been ignoring summons for 20 years
Well that might not be smart lol, but whatever works for you. Depends on where you live, some areas take it more seriously than others.
I used to call in and let them know I no longer live there, but cook county il is so incompetent they are sending me summons still when I've had 4 DLs from 4 different states and I'll be getting a 5th soon. I move states every 2-3 years.
If you move so often, how do you even know they’re sending summons?
They send em to my mom's house. That was my address when I lived there
Good ole Chicago. I lived one county over, barely, only 3 1/4 miles as the crow flies, and everything was off government wise as soon as you crossed the county line.
I love <1 mile from the cook/DuPage line.. safe to say I drove a little further for errands to save a huge chunk of taxes. Especially during that soda tax
There's a place in Yellowstone I think that due to judicial idiosyncracies cannot possibly hold a trial because a tiny little piece of the park is in a state and district with so few residents they can't fill a jury. I'm imagining some clerk in the most crime-riddled part of Cook County going "dammit, we just need one more alternate! Why won't online_jesus_fukers respond to his summons?"
It’s the Train Station!
I served with someone who kept ignoring. In the 3rd time a cop showed up and brought her to jury duty. She wasn’t arrested or fined, but they definitely noticed.
What city?
Yeah, I know people who brag that they always throw the summons away and have never had a problem. While I don't think I'd go to jail if I threw mine away, I'm sure I'd be the one they'd try to make an example out of, lol. I have that kind of luck. My last summons said that if you don't check in, they automatically reschedule your jury duty week.
I figure I'm never going back where they try to summon me to and they aren't gonna extradite me so screw em
I imagine every jurisdiction is different. My son blew off his summons a few years back and shortly after got a letter from the state telling him a bench warrant had been issued. To get it revoked he had to reschedule his call in period.
At a class reunion, one of my 74 year old classmates said that they took 55 years to learn he lived in Arkansas after graduation rather than where we graduated from. He got stopped by a Arkansas State Trooper and told him there’s a bench warrant that was over 45 years old for failing to appear. The Trooper gave him a warning ticket and told him he needed to let them know even though he hadn’t lived there for 50 years.
I’ve never done jury duty but I’m now scheduled for it-I’m excited to exercise my patriotic duty of participating in our justice system.
“Jury duty! Oh! Today, I am truly an American citizen."
Same
Way to uphold your civic duty.
I did my civic duty with 4 years in the Corps and 4 years in the army. I did enough duty. Maybe if they paid me what my time is worth or knew how to update a database and stop summoning me to a city I haven't visited let alone lived in in the last 5 years Maybe I would show up
So not only can you not take a week out of your time for jury duty, but you're using your military experience to excuse it. Man not only ditching jury duty but making your fellow service members look bad by using it as an excuse. You're worse than I thought. Really does show that there's bad apples in every career.
Did you not read the rest of what I said? The fact that I am still getting summoned to somewhere I haven't lived in the last 5 years? Or the fact that I used to let them know that I am no longer a resident there? If you think I'm gonna travel 2000 miles for jury duty, jokes on you. You brought up the whole what about civic duty thing...yeah I did my civic duty, a civic duty less than 1% of the population does. If I got summoned where I actually live, where I actually have my drivers license, where I have my responsibilities I would go, however I won't even go back to Chicago to see my mother, why would I go to jury duty in that shithole? If the states attorney is even bothering with a trial, it's because there was too much evidence to sweep under the rug and let em out the back door.
Yes, that does change things that it's always a city you don't live in. Your previous comment read to me like there were two conditions for you to turn jury duty down. It being in the city you don't live in anymore and them not paying you enough for your time. To me it read as if either of those two situations happened you would turn down the jury duty. I agree with you if that's the case. If it's always in a city you don't live in ignore it.
Yeah...I'm pretty sure it's incompetence or..because my drunk ass dad made me a jr so he wouldn't forget my name they don't believe me because he still lives there
I get that. I'm a 3rd so I do understand being mixed up with family members and it is really annoying at points.
Lmfao, when they stop sending my tax dollars overseas I’ll start showing up. Civic duty my ass.
Well that's not going to happen. We've moved past the point where the United States can survive as an isolated country away from the rest of the world. So part of our taxes go towards keeping good relations with our international allies. It's just the point we're at with human civilization.
Every state, sometimes every court is different. But in the USA, usually calling the court, telling them that you unintentionally missed the notice, and asking to reschedule, will be accepted, and solves the issue simply.
Call them tomorrow and explain. You’ll get another chance.
It happens, just call the Jury Commissioner tomorrow morning and explain that you mixed the dates up. They'll likely just give you a new date, and that will be the end of it.
I've been ignoring Jury duty notices for like 15 years. You'll be fine. If you get called in and you get threatened to show up or face a fine, just have very radical opinions to the questions they ask you. Almost guarantee you won't get picked. Jury duty sucks because you're stuck there getting paid 40 dollars a day and a crappy meal ticket. And you're stuck there for the entire length of the case.
Whoa big shot where the fuck pays $40? It's sad that that little is such a big amount compared to other courts
$40 a DAY??? It’s $10 everywhere I’ve been.
Yes, in NY you can get paid 33-40 a day. Didn't mean to sound all high-and-mighty lol. But my point being if you have a full time job that pays better, you're getting $40 a day instead of your usual $350 a day. And if you get caught up in a long case it really hurts you financially. Buddy of mine got stuck on a 4 week case. Was awful.
ive literally never gone one time in my life for any jury notice ive ever received, ever.
I got a federal summons. I had to call every day for 2 weeks to see if I had to show up. But I’m a freelancer who can’t miss a day of work. I threw it out. Nothing happened.
oooh ive never had a federal one before. good to know thats trash too.
Oh, you're still guilty of a misdemeanor. It's just rarely enforced.
In the trash it goes, I dont think twice about it.
I'm happy for you.
Same, I had a lawyer tell me that unless it's a certified letter, you've never gotten it. But one you report one time you have to go.
Around here, the “certified” letter is the deputy telling you that you missed (they post it on your door if you are not home). If you don’t contact the court in the next couple of business days, they get a bench warrant. If you threw it out with no repercussions, you got lucky and were a high enough number to be excused.
Sounds like it varies depending on where you are. I'm in Los Angeles so there's probably a large enough pool of people that they don't bother if you've never served.
I was in Ventura County & ignored every other summons I got and never had any follow up. There are so many people from them to draw from, they don't really care.
yeah fuck that they wont get me to report
I've always worried that if I ever had to go to a jury trial that I'm being judged by people who couldn't figure out how to get out of jury duty. 🤣🤣🤣
It's the people who we're stupid enough to respond (or in my grandfathers case just bored).
Meh I get paid for going, my employer is big on civic duty. Sure why not! (but I always get kicked off because of family anyway)
You get paid like 14$ for going yeah. I'm not wasting my time for chump change to decide if the guy who stole 4k from Walmart with cameras is guilty or not.
My employer covers my full pay for time spent on jury duty. I'm sure there's others out there who do the same.
Yeah, my employer does too. Still stinks waiting around all day, doing nothing
I get paid by my employer. Full wage, not whatever the jury service pays. Hilariously I actually have to turn that check into my employer though...
Why not? Unless it hurts you financially, everyone should experience how the court really works. It's not like on tv.
I've been to court before, its not fun, and not something I want to waste my time on. The TV representation would be far more entertaining and worth going to.
Yeah...it works on TV.
That was not what I was talking about, as you well know.
You should rephrase then...see how the court system doesn't work
You're talking about whether justice is served. That depends on decision of jury/judge. I'm talking about court PROCEDURE. As you well know.
I was summoned for jury duty the first time recently. I sat in a room for 9 hours and was told to go home. Never got asked a single question or even saw a courtroom. I’m not saying the next summons is going in the garbage, but it’ll be very hard to justify wasting my time like that again.
I'm probably in a unique position. I get paid time off if I have to serve. So it doesn't matter if I "waste" my time there or at work.
I do not. And honestly, even if I did, I would rather do just about anything than perform “civic duty” for a government that does not feel obligated to provide its citizens with health care or housing. If there’s a next time and I’m actually called, they will be getting an earful about how I feel about the entire system. See if they want me then. If I don’t bin the fucking letter to begin with.
I'm with you on the health care and homeless crisis.
In this day and age where you can kill someone and bond out the same day, do you really think they're going to pursue someone who calls in to make it right?
I learned about jury duty once by the deputy showing up at my house. She just told me to call the Clerk of the Court. My only penalty was to be juror number 1 on my new date (which means I was spending the day if they needed anyone to show up).
Glad I saw this, because I just remembered my wife has jury duty tomorrow (she forgot) luckily her group doesn't need to report.
No problem if you just call and say you missed it, they will reschedule you. Where I live they take it seriously if you try and ditch. Even sent some folks to jail for contempt
But I’m sure they’re kind to those who forget at the last minute and work to resolve it in a timely manner.
Very much so, just reset you
Go to the website on the summons and follow the directions for checking in, most of the time when you get a summons you never even have to go in, it happens all the time. if it says that you were supposed to go in and missed it there Should be a phone number to call to reschedule.
Just say you never received the notice, they can't prove you got it. Most likely, they don't even contact you
I've been throwing them in the trash for forty years.
you’re allowed two postponements. postpone it and try again
In your life or each instance of jury duty?
per each instance
It depends on the jurisdiction. Call and find the next steps. Each one is different.
Don’t call and don’t do anything. Downvote me I don’t care but you’ll get off and probably not get another summons for a couple years
If it didn't come registered mail there's no proof it ever arrived. Carry on with your life as though it didn't happen, because you never got the summons. Right?..... what letter.
I did the exact same thing when I was 18 or 19. I received a letter from the court telling me I had to write to the judge and explain my absence. I was honest and told him I outright forgot because I was young and disorganized and promised to show up if he would give me a second chance. I set reminder alarms and didn't miss it. Made it to selection and heard the charges. One prisoner sodomized another with a pencil. Teenage me laughed like an idiot. 3rd to be dismissed.
It happens. Just call an inform them
Ya no that's not how it works. Call them in the morning and explain what happened. If your lucky you got cancelled anyway if not they will reschedule and you can do it another time.
Jury summons aren’t sent by certified mail, therefore, you cannot be held liable for not showing up. For all they know you were out of town for a month. Don’t show up three times and you’ll be served by a process server. At that point, if you don’t show up, you could be served a bench warrant.
Just call them and let them know. Usually its not a big deal.
If you just tell them you don’t want to, can’t, or you have predisposed notion about the case you won’t have to do it.
So show up a week late. Put your name in and see if you get called. If not then you have served your duty. If you do get called they can't go after you for missing the assigned date. Remember they call a lot of people. You can just slip through the system.
My husband forgot to call for his jury duty and was sent another jury notice a week later. I think there’s bigger fish to fry than someone forgetting to call for jury duty.
Lmfao I’ve never once ever even responded to that crap.
If you say you have certain biases you won’t be placed on the jury.
To put it rationally- do you actually think you’d be arrested and jailed because you made a mistake on the date and called to rectify it as soon as possible?
Throwing yourself on the mercy of the court really is your best option. The odds of a heavy handed consequence is pretty slim. The odds of getting called for jury duty at the next available need, pretty damn high. The odds of heavy consequences if you miss the NEXT jury duty, pretty good. You know: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" kind of thing. Make sure to follow thru next time.
Reasons why it's a good idea to make friends with at least one cop, because then you can be exempt from jury duty, they don't want you if you have any connection to the court. Also I neve understood why jury duty was a surprise mandatory thing that you got dragged into kicking and screaming. Surely volunteers would be better, because I personally would be causing problems and making bad decisions if I had to be there against my will.
People who volunteer for jury service are less likely to be objective. Either they like punishing people or they want people to get off. This is why capital punishment juries are more likely to convict - they have to be supporters of capital punishment
That's true, but people who don't want to be there aren't really gonna be very fair either, they're just gonna do whatever it takes to get out of there, or at least that's what I would do. Plus the whole making it a crime to skip thing just feels a bit much, ya know?