Failure to Respond to Jury Summons

fiveofpeep · Nov 28, 2009

my step dad is on hospice and with the whirlwind of cancer dx and having such a poor prognosis never responded to his summons and now they gave him a notice for a warrant. hah I'd like to see them try to haul a palliative patient to court.

moral of the story: if you havent gotten the warrant you should call right away and get it solved so that doesnt happen.

oramar · Nov 28, 2009

In my area I have heard of them issuing bench warrents for people that did not respond. However, I get the feeling that they do it rather sporadically to make an example out of a few people just to put a scare into the rest of us. What makes me suspicious is that I have known people to toss the survey into the garbage or just ignore the summons and no one has done a darn thing to them. PS my daughter just got a post-ponement for of all things "breast feeding". Believe me when they give a post-ponement it is just a temporary thing, they do call you later on. Myself, when called I go. I have been on several juries and found the experience fascinating.

oramar · Nov 28, 2009

my step dad is on hospice and with the whirlwind of cancer dx and having such a poor prognosis never responded to his summons and now they gave him a notice for a warrant. hah I'd like to see them try to haul a palliative patient to court.
moral of the story: if you havent gotten the warrant you should call right away and get it solved so that doesnt happen.

My 85 year old mom who has dementia and Alzhiemers got a summons to of all things, A GRAND JURY!!! PSSorry to hear about your step dad.

Mell Bell · Nov 28, 2009

I had jury duty during my first year in college, and I postponed 3 times with different reasons because I just didn't want to go. But of course I served eventually, and unless you have a great excuse, you are going to serve. There is no way out of it. I do know a couple of people who have ignored their jury summons, and nothing ever happened. But in your case, you'll just have to go in front of a judge and tell him why you were absent, and they will schedule you again. You're a nursing student and were wrapped up with school work, they'll understand, no big deal.

Angeljho, MSN, NP · Nov 28, 2009

I had jury duty during my first year in college, and I postponed 3 times with different reasons because I just didn't want to go. But of course I served eventually, and unless you have a great excuse, you are going to serve. There is no way out of it. I do know a couple of people who have ignored their jury summons, and nothing ever happened. But in your case, you'll just have to go in front of a judge and tell him why you were absent, and they will schedule you again. You're a nursing student and were wrapped up with school work, they'll understand, no big deal.

That's what I'm hoping; that they understand. I didn't even have my license for 2 months and I'm worried that I will be jailed as a result of all this. I'm not sure what the worst penalty is because like I said, I am ignorant when it comes to court, law, etc... but I wouldn't want to be JAILED and have it put on my record or whatever, because I skipped out on jury duty to attend my classes.

And yes I understand I should of called and postponed NOW.. But at the time it didn't even seem important. If I knew that this was the consequence I have to face I would of called to postponed 5 minutes after getting the summons.

Mell Bell · Nov 28, 2009

No, I doubt you will have to serve jail time, but you might have to pay a fine. And as others have said, there could be a bench warrant issued for you. To find out the penalties, go to your county website, they're probably listed there in detail.

StdntMurse · Nov 28, 2009

Hey Newboy, don't worry about it.. just give them a call. Jury duty is a responsibility that you can fulfill when you can focus on what happened in the courtroom rather than on the 100 pages you had to read that day. There's a lot of people on here who are giving you grief, and they're right.. you should have sent in the response earlier, but seriously, you'll be able to work it out just fine.

Good Luck!

Charles

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Nov 28, 2009

For future reference, never count on ignorance of the law to be an excuse for violating it.

I'm sure everything will be fine, but take this as a lesson learned and do not repeat the same mistake in the future.

StdntMurse · Nov 28, 2009

That's maybe the best advice ever! I'm just saying that making the commitment to become a nurse is a great civic benefit in the first place. If the courts gave him serious grief over this, I'd be surprised.. and sad. The best advice I can give is to talk with them.

Cheers,

Charles

PS I'm a virgo too :-)

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN · Nov 28, 2009

My cousin got called, twice, while, she was a nursing mom. Both times, she told the judge that she was happy to serve, but would need a clean, quiet, private, LOCKED room every 2 hours to pump. The judge turned purple and said...

I just believe we can excuse you."

And that was that.

Funnily enough, I have never been called. I may have just jinxed myself.

Moogie · Nov 28, 2009

My former sister-in-law was summoned for jury duty when she was doing the last year of her opthamology residency in Chicago. It was not considered a valid enough reason for her to be excused but she did get it postponed---to a few months after her residency was finished and she had moved out of the area.

Kringe38 · Nov 28, 2009

I don't think you should have to go if you're a college student, but you do have to answer the summons. I'd be scared not to respond. I looked up my county's jury duty rules and they do have an exemption for being enrolled in and attending college. Thank goodness. I'd be thrown out of the program if I had to miss a bunch of days. I mean, sure it's a civic duty but if it would just about ruin you I think you should at least be eligible for a postponement! The last time I was called I wasn't in school yet and did go and was chosen. We had a few minutes of trial and then the person decided to plead guilty!