I would go today

Not sure how things work in Florida, but knew a guy who missed jury duty here by accident.
He found out through a friend that there was a bench warrant out for him based on not showing up.
He was told that they would not look for him, but would be arrested if he had a traffic stop or other incident.
Ended up going to what they call "open court" here and pleading guilty. It was something like a $100 fine.

Call the jury officer and explain the situation. Some places issue a warrant and some places just re-schedule you.

Cool. Usually you get a bench warrant like stated above.

I was pre-selected to sit on a jury for a murder trial. They never wrote me back after I filled out the questionnaire...

Congrats on not getting a warrant!!!

$100??? Worth it!

Did they send out the jury summons by process server or via certified mail?
If not, can they prove the intended recipient actually got the summons?
I know the OP responded to said summons but my question is one of generalities.
In my county, they just send via standard snail mail.
Food for thought...

I vote Toaster should celebrate by playing 12 games of pinball.

In my experience with stuff like this its always better to call and be up front. Mistakes happen, they don't want to jam up a good citizen.

He made an attempt in writing to be excused... so yes they definitely can prove he received it.

Getting fined, taking the day off from work to appear in court, pleading guilty in front of a judge... Just show up and do your civic duty, lol. It is very tough to get excused from jury duty, self-employed and busy or not.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine, he had a bench warrant in the system for years for some little thing from his high school days that he thought was taken care of. If I remember he paid a parking ticket late and only paid the ticket fee, not the late fee so a bench warrant was issued. He winds up going out on a first date with a very attractive lady who worked in his office and he gets pulled over because one of his break lights was out. They ran his license, saw the bench warrant and put the cuffs on him. Towed his car and everything. His co-worker had to have a friend pick her up and take her home. He was in and out of the police station, just paid the fine and was out the door but had to wait until business hours to pay the impound fee to get his car back. He never got a second date.

Dude, my work schedule allows me to turn my machines on like once a month. no way do I have the time to go be a juror, let alone get strung along like I may be one, just to get cut. I work 2 weeks of the month on the road, and the other two downtown 40 miles from my house. Id gladly pay the $100 to get out of it. Shit, my work might even pay more than that to get me excused.

I wouldn't worry about it. I served on a jury 3 years ago and during the jury selection process they had an Arapahoe County Court (South Denver metro area) judge address the potential jury pool in the room which was about 300-400 potential jurists.

Afterwards the forum was opened to questions and I asked the judge what would happen to someone who ignored their jury summons and didn't show up. She told the entire room that while they like citizens to take their civic responsibility seriously, that since so many people do show up for their jury summons that she is not aware of Arapahoe County ever taking any further action on a jurist who ignores a jury summons.

This may differ from county to county and state to state and is likely dependent if there is a shortage of potential jurors, but my experience has always been that there are more than enough potential jurists who are very anxious to serve on these juries.

Gord

You can't just pay $100 dollars and get out if jury duty. It's your Civic duty to show up like it or not and you WILL find the time or face the consequences, your choice. To the OP, if you are smart you will be getting in contact with them and try and explain what happened.

I threw away a summons in 2003, Ill throw them all away. Who are you to tell me what to do? You dont even understand net neutrality, lol.. BYE

Hopefully others don't take this same selfish attitude towards your trial if you ever get falsely arrested of a crime you didn't commit.

Its selfish to have to work to provide for my family over missing work and wages to get paid pennies to sit in a court room?

Im not trying to tell you what to do but the law is going to tell you what you're going to do if you keep avoiding your Civic duties. This is a battle that you can't and won't win I promise you. Just keep doing what you do though, sounds like you know what you're doing.

Yes it is because it's your civic duty as an American citizen.

No, I'm saying it's selfish to live in a society but to refuse to take part in your civic duty to help maintain it.

15 years ago I was selected to be on a jury for a murder trial that lasted a week. Being on a jury is democracy at its most sacred, and is an important civic duty. I was impressed with how seriously the other jury members took their responsibility.

In New York State at the moment, there is zero enforcement of a Jury Duty Summons.

Im not sure mailing a summons is proper legal service anyway. Im a not sure how they are getting around the improper service of a summons.

There has been some conversation as to tying it to your DMV renewal, whereas you cannot renew your license if you have not appeared for jury duty, again, not sure how they are proving that anyone actually received the summons.

That said, it is "doing the right thing" to appear..

I pay $1000 in property taxes a month. They can take part of that and a $100 fine (which I think is fair to get out of jury duty) and pay some one else to do it. I dont see why it has to be ME. There are a ton of other people out there who have a lot of time on their hands. I have none.

People don't care about things like that anymore Dirk, that's why this country is in the shape that it's in. We are living in the "it's all about me and F the police, nobody can tell me what to do" generation now. People think they can just do whatever the hell they want to these days without consequences.

Yeah I've been dying to get on a jury, I would get paid for my job anyway, but never been selected.

It has to be you because you were the one SELECTED!! Are you F'ing kidding me dude?? Jesus man.......WOW is all I can say. Smfh!!

I would not. I would lose a lot of money.

Why is it not fair to pay a fine to get NOT selected? Dumb.

A few years ago my mom was selected to be apart of a Grand Jury. That's a year's worth of commitment if selected. She's a CPA and runs her own business with only one assistant. My mom is the only one who's able to do certain things, so she couldn't leave the work to the assistant if needed. Of course the call to show up to be assigned to the Grand Jury was during the middle of tax season. But being the good upstanding citizen she is, she took an entire day to go for selection. And of course all the ones who showed up got selected. The ones who did not, were not selected and free of the service.

Then, being that she was reliable, she was chosen the next three years. I think the 4th year she finally said something and refused to be apart of it.

I live in Wisconsin and every time I get a jury duty notice I just throw it away. Until they start sending them certified mail and making me sign that I received it I just pretend i never saw it. I have better things to do with my time than slog downtown for a few pennies. What they pay doesn’t even cover the cost to park there for a day.

It might be dumb to you but it's the damn law dude and you have to obey the laws if you want to live in this country. I am seriously blown away by your comments.

We all break the law daily dude, dont act like you are the perfect citizen.

I'd pack my suitcase and head for the border, either one is pretty easy to cross. Question is do you like the warm or the cold?

Take the economics out of the equation and think of it more on a fairness perspective. You seem like a successful and bright individual. The exact type of person that should be on a jury to help parse thru the facts of a case and come to the truth beyond a reasonable doubt. Without those like yourself we're left with grumpy old retiree, unemployed millennials and the general dregs of society (I know I'm over generalizing but just to make a point). I just think it would make the court system unbalanced if the jury pool is a shallow puddle of scraps instead of open minded citizens like yourself.

I'm not perfect and I try my best not to break laws. If I get called for jury duty I am going to go whether I want to or not because it's my Civic duty to do so and I am trying to be a good citizen.

cold please.

Thats a fair argument. If money and time wasnt an issue, being on a jury sounds fun otherwise. Its not that I dont WANT to do it, its that my life and schedule does not allow it.

Your life and schedule WILL allow it or you will go to jail.

I get it - it wasn't meant as a personal attack. I've been on two juries where we decided the fate of people. Sending someone to prison has a lasting impact on you. Especially when the facts aren't always 100% clear. I just hate the idea of someone having their life ruined over a jury that just doesn't care and a court system that presumes guilt. I'd also choose my family and keeping my job over my civic duty if I had to pick. I don't blame you one bit.

Let me lay some facts on you from Illinois.

Must my employer pay me while I'm on jury service?

No. An employer is NOT required by law to pay employees who are on jury service but many employers do. You should check with your company's human resources department before serving to see if your company pays your salary for days you are a juror. If you DO receive your salary while on jury service, you should ask what your employer requires as proof that you served as a juror.

Will I be paid for jury service, and if so, how much?

Yes, you are paid for jury service. You will receive $17.20 for each day that you serve.

What happens if I don't show up for jury service?

Failure to appear for jury service when summoned is a serious matter. You may be held in contempt of court which could result in a fine or other court imposed penalty. It is in your best interest to appear if you are summoned to avoid any further action.

So, my employer doesnt have to pay me. Thats a lot of money to lose, which could even put me into debt. Just to be on a jury. Great.

$17.20 a day isnt enough for gas, and parking. So, really? I have to go out of my own pocket to do this now?

"Fine or other court imposed penalty"...I think I like this option better

lol... go research and find the total amount of people that have been taken in for ignoring jury duty... Unless you go and mouth off to the judge, nobody is getting hauled off to jail (a system already clogged with non-violet offenders)

Yep all of that sucks I agree, but it's still your civic duty. I can't help you with that problem, I just know that you have to go if selected. All you can do is plead your case to the judge and hope that he understands. He does not have to let you out of jury duty though if he doesn't want to.

Just got to take your chances I guess. I'm not that much of a gambler personally and going when called is the right thing to do anyway.

Landed on a jury for a civil trial about ten years ago in Seattle. Employer paid up to 10 days, so I wasn't too bothered by the awesome $10/day that Washington was paying me. Ninth day of the trial and the involved parties settled. I then found out I was an alternate all along.

Took my "this trial lasted nine days" letter from the bailiff, photo shopped it into ten and took Friday off.

In about 1995 I had been dodging jury summons for a few years.

There was no internet no easy way for any of this.

So any ways I went finally because I was not offered another option.

Next thing you know I was on a jury.

But my point is it was very rewarding.

I felt like I was on a tv show back then, as the two lawyers looked directly in our eyes struggling to convey the importance of thier traffic damage claims.

It was enlightening. A different time too. Now.

I went to jury duty and sat in a room the whole day last time. It was more comfortable. Far more comfortable.

I was glad to not get called this time.

Isn't there a phone number that you call the evening before you're supposed to report? That's the way it worked the 2 times I was summoned. One time I had to report, the other time I didn't.

That's the way it is here too.

Funny story from my jury duty:

During the jury selection process the judge asked if anybody had any reasons that they couldn't be on the jury and needed to be dismissed. He was a very reasonable judge, and would allow potential jurors to be dismissed if it would cause any sort of hardship in their lives (i.e. taking care of children or dependent family members would be allowed). Missing work is never an excuse. There was one guy who said that his boss really needed him to be at work as the reason he can't be on the jury. Well the judge said that he would be happy to send a Sheriff to visit his boss and take him in for interfering with the employee's jury duty. Employee shut up real quick after that. Lucky for him he did not end up getting selected to be on the jury.

I ended up getting selected to be on the jury and I found it to be an interesting and educational experience. It is every citizen's civic duty to respond to the call of jury duty. It was a personal injury case where a guy was rear ended and had significant medical bills and lost wages and pain and suffering. It took 2 days and I'm glad that I got to experience it.