Of Jury Duty or Not by Konnie Enos

Quite recently my income earning, therefore tax-paying, not to mention registered voter, son received a jury summons.

When he got his mail that day he came to me ranting about being called and asking if he could just ignore it. Not a good idea. Jury duty is mandatory but what consequences you’ll receive for ignoring one differs by the jurisdiction it’s for, local, state, or federal. The consequences range from receiving another summons for a different date, up to criminal penalties, including fines and up to 180 days in jail.₁

I explained to him that it was his civic duty.

He was not happy as he grumpily left my room and I heard no more about it until several weeks later. When he again came to talk to me. “You guys might have to take Andrue into work Tuesday.”

“Why? Why aren’t you going to work that day?” Tony has been driving Andrue to work since Tony does have a driver’s license and a car. But now they are also both on the same shift. Not to mention how close Andrue lives to us.

“I don’t know if I’ll be working that day.”

“Why not? Are you sick or something?”

 “No. I might have to report for jury duty. I find out Monday.”

Oh, yeah. Been there. “Okay.”

As it turned out, he didn’t have to report to jury duty.

Then I recently read something else about the writer getting out of jury duty because they had a nursing baby. Now I’m not sure about all jurisdictions, but in some, taking care of small children, especially nursing said child, is an automatic exemption from duty.

Oregon is one state that does give this exemption.

I know, because technically I got it.

While we were living there, I received a jury summons (i.e. before our boys were born). In this particular jurisdiction, they requested you hold three specific months for possible service.

I looked over the paperwork. Among the exemptions to serving would be a hardship in some way or you were a nursing mother. Technically I wasn't nursing. However, my third child was due in the middle of those requested months. So I would be nursing. Then again, this was my third child. Not only that, but I provided childcare for my sister-in-law. So at some point, I’d have primary responsibility for five girls under 6. Three in diapers/pull-ups and one of those I’d be nursing.

I let them know all of the above.

I never heard from them again.

I also know you can be released from serving for extenuating circumstances. One of those is not currently living in the area where you are registered to vote, such as being away for college. In my case, the first time I ever received a jury summons, I had only been on my mission about a month when my mail from home caught up to me. Yeah, I wasn’t anywhere near my home state and couldn’t return for about a year and a half.

So I received a jury summons in my mid-twenties and again in my mid-thirties.

Now I’ve had people tell me they’ve had multiple jury summons and even served a few times. And that’s including that a federal summons will exclude you from being called for several years after you've served.

So as the years went by I wondered when I’d get called again.

Now, mind you. Unlike the majority of people I’ve heard talking about it, I’m not opposed to serving. And ‘third times the charm’ so I have always figured I’d serve eventually.

Well, in my mid-fifties, I did get that third summons. Okay, I’m completely available. Jerry could deal with any appointments or anything the kids needed while I was serving. I did the paperwork and was notified when I’d have to check to see if they still needed me. I discussed it with Jerry so he was prepared for me being busy during that time.

Then before I got another notice. I was no longer needed. Because I was willing to serve on a federal jury that still exempts me for at least a year. It’s been longer than that so I’m wondering when I’ll be called again since they’ve been so few and far between.

I had about a decade between my first two calls, and two decades between the second and third call. If my fourth call is three decades after the last one I’ll be in my mid-eighties when I get it. At this point, I’m wondering if I’ll ever serve on a jury.

How many times have you been called for jury duty? And thank a vet for their military service.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.