# Received Late Jury Duty Summons, Appearance Date Already Past



## SeaBreeze (Jul 19, 2018)

Yesterday I received a summons for jury duty in the mail, yesterday was the 18th, the appearance date on the summons was July 13th.   I tried to contact the court by phone yesterday and this morning to no avail.  So, I sent them an email with the details.

I told them that I was accepting no blame for this late notice, either the court was late in sending it to me, or the post office was at fault.  They replied very quickly and thanked me for contacting them and said that my juror number was in the group that was excused anyway, so I didn't have to appear.  Also, my duty was covered for 2018.  Happy to get that response, it bothered me last night.

Anyone here ever get a late jury summons in the mail?


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## Falcon (Jul 19, 2018)

Sea,  Those  jury  things.  (Unless  you want  to participate.)  If you didn't  have to sign for it  then  toss it into  the trash  and  deny you ever 

received it.  Many  peeps love to serve on  juries  cause they don't have anything else to  do.

HOWEVER......IF  you DID  sign for it and  DIDN'T   serve, then  it's an evening  in the local slammer.  (They are nice and cool  during the

hot weather.)  Let your conscience   be  your guide.


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## IKE (Jul 19, 2018)

I'm not complaining but I've never been called for jury duty......do they go by alphabetical order, SSAN, birthday or what ?


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## Aunt Bea (Jul 19, 2018)

I've only been called once in my life.

I had to phone in each day and check the range of numbers required to report, they never got to my number.

I hope that's the end of it for me.


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## Falcon (Jul 19, 2018)

Beats me  Ike.   But they've snagged me a couple of times.

It may have to do with  your voting response  from previous elections.  That's just a guess  though.


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## AprilT (Jul 19, 2018)

No, I never received notice late but, I did receive a notice to appear just before the 4th of July this year and I wasn't able to contact the office in time to give them my medical excuse notice.  We weren't allowed to do anything via phone only on-line and I had no way of knowing they needed 10 day advance notice, as the site address they gave didn't have the proper site info to post the letter to them even if I had the letter in time.  And being you couldn't call the office about your situation you had to do so via mail or or line, unless they reached out to you for whatever reason, you could only check your if you needed to appear after 5pm the night before said court hearings.

After finding my way to the correct site to post the letter, I let them know of their error.  Days after the court date I was to appear, I received a letter stating I was granted medical excuse not to have to appear for a date that had already past.  

It was a good thing the night before when I went to check the site, jury duty for my day of appearance was canceled for all who were summoned to appear for that date.  I didn't have to struggle to get there.  I say struggle as it would have been a bit so since I wouldn't be able to make arrangements with the people who usually handle my transportation as they close before 5pm.  

In the end it worked out, but oy vey.


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## OneEyedDiva (Jul 19, 2018)

Good thing it worked out like it did SeaBreeze.  I always get my summonses in plenty of time. Hadn't served in a long time for various reasons and when I did think I'd serve, I was in the group that was excused also.


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## jujube (Jul 19, 2018)

As soon as I hit 70, I got a notice in the mail asking me if I wanted to be permanently excused.  I did.  

It's not that I mind jury duty per se.....it's just that those darned things ALWAYS used to arrive with a duty date that was right in the middle of a vacation I had planned for months.  Luckily, I've always been able to get a deferral to a later date, but one of these days they were going to hold my feet to the fire and make me show up when THEY wanted me to.

So it's no more jury duty for me.


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## SeaBreeze (Jul 19, 2018)

I turned 65 this year and had to go in to renew my driver's license, I think that had something to do with it.  Plus, if you are a regular voter like I am, they have your name on the list.  Falcon, I'm not very interested in serving.  Every time I've been called down, I've wasted several hours there only to be sent home.  Never actually participated as a juror in a trial.


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## AprilT (Jul 19, 2018)

Jurors are usually drawn randomly from voting and driver renewal list.

This wasn't my first time being called, though it's been a couple of decades, last time I lived in NJ and I remember going though the first day, but, was excused after the juror pool selection process.  It was a long day and which I would have had a difficult time getting through these days.


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## Kitties (Jul 19, 2018)

Yes, they can't prove you got it, especially if it's the first one at that address. People move all the time. I went once and was dismissed. Not picked. Then I got a permanent excuse from my doctor. It was very simple. He just wrote it out by hand and I mailed it in. They said that was fine, they are not entitled to any details. It just needs to say permanent or temporary and I'm permanent. No more little invites in the mail. It was interesting though the one time I went to watch the process.


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## Butterfly (Jul 19, 2018)

Falcon said:


> Sea,  Those  jury  things.  (Unless  you want  to participate.)  If you didn't  have to sign for it  then  toss it into  the trash  and  deny you ever
> 
> received it.  Many  peeps love to serve on  juries  cause they don't have anything else to  do.
> 
> ...



VERY BAD IDEA around here.  They send them out by regular mail and the assumption is that if it was put in the mail then you got it; you can deny it to your heart's content and you'll still spend that evening in the slammer.  The slammer around here is not a very good place to spend the night in.

SeaBreeze, you did the exactly right thing.  They are usually pretty decent about it if you call and explain.


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## Keesha (Jul 19, 2018)

I’ve gotten two of those and both times I have tossed them out. 
Yep! I know it’s wrong but I can’t do jury duty so don’t. We live in the country and aren’t asked to sign for it and I haven’t been busted yet. If there’s a next time I’ll get my doctor to sign me off.


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## moviequeen1 (Jul 20, 2018)

A couple of yrs ago I got letter about jury duty, luckily my number wasn't chosen.
One of my 1st jobs was working as a 'gofer' in local law firm here in downtown Buffalo .My late father was a lawyer so I have some knowledge about the legal system.The thought of sitting around all day waiting for my number to be called would be so boring. Sue


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## JimW (Jul 20, 2018)

Falcon said:


> Sea,  Those  jury  things.  (Unless  you want  to participate.)  If you didn't  have to sign for it  then  toss it into  the trash  and  deny you ever
> 
> received it.



Yeah, that's not really how it works. You might get away with that silliness once, but they do assume you received the notice and the responsibility is yours to show up. In Mass they can go so far as issuing a warrant for your arrest if you pull a no show/no call on jury duty. Even if you do call, the list of acceptable excuses for getting out of jury duty is very short. They do give you a chance to change the date of service and the courthouse where they want you to serve, but for the most part if you're physically able to serve they expect you to do it.

Do you get away with not paying your bills if you say you never received it in the mail?


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## DaveA (Jul 20, 2018)

You've pretty much covered it here in Mass., Jim.  I was called once, before I became too old (70-75?  can't remember).  I showed up as required and as some of the rest of you, spent the morning sitting around.  we were finally ushered into a court room and the procedure of picking the jury began.  After about 10 minutes a court officer spoke quietly to the judge and he announced that there would be no trial and we were all excused with credit being given for having appeared that day.

I find nothing appealing about serving on a jury but it's a necessity under our system of law.  I feel that if we're able we should serve when called.  if we don't, we're just taking advantage of someone who "does his/her duty".  "Boring" doesn't qualify, IMHO as a reason not to serve.  If "boring" was the criteria by which we live, I'd have stopped going to school mid way through the first grade.


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## JimW (Jul 20, 2018)

DaveA said:


> You've pretty much covered it here in Mass., Jim.  I was called once, before I became too old (70-75?  can't remember).  I showed up as required and as some of the rest of you, spent the morning sitting around.  we were finally ushered into a court room and the procedure of picking the jury began.  After about 10 minutes a court officer spoke quietly to the judge and he announced that there would be no trial and we were all excused with credit being given for having appeared that day.
> 
> I find nothing appealing about serving on a jury but it's a necessity under our system of law.  I feel that if we're able we should serve when called.  if we don't, we're just taking advantage of someone who "does his/her duty".  "Boring" doesn't qualify, IMHO as a reason not to serve.  If "boring" was the criteria by which we live, I'd have stopped going to school mid way through the first grade.



I got as far as you did with jury duty Dave. My group was called and the jury selection took place, my number was so high that they had already selected the jury before they even got close to my number. We were all thanked for our time and excused.

Jury duty is not fun, but if everyone decided not to go just because they didn't feel like it, where would our judicial system be then?


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## Sunny (Jul 20, 2018)

It's easy to get out of jury duty without resorting to tossing out the summons. Just reply, giving your reasons, such as your age, difficulties with transportation, health issues, etc.  If that doesn't get you off, once you appear at the first jury selection process, they ask questions designed to weed out people they don't want on the jury. Once, we were all asked what our favorite TV show was. I replied, "Law and Order," and I was immediately dismissed!


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## Kitties (Jul 20, 2018)

They do ask questions. They want to know if you have any family or friends in law enforcement or working in the court systems. The one time I went, people were asked if yourself or anyone close to you had ever been the victim of a crime. If you listen you'll see where the questions are going and you can respond and get out. But you do still have to go and if you work like me (at the time I was working the PM shift, up until about 3am and you had to be there by 7:30 or 8) no thanks. 

Seriously, need to be excused permanently with no worry, talk to your MD. They will NEVER bother you again.


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## Keesha (Jul 20, 2018)

Now that I have a medical practitioner again I shall ask about this. 
My reasoning isn’t  because I just don’t care,  or am physically disabled. 
I’m not psychologically able to participate in that type of thing and just the thought of needing to call somebody about it , considering it is the government,  got me panicked enough. ( the need to explain it all ) Hadn’t considered being exempt from the whole thing. Thank you for the info. 
I supposed I should consider myself lucky then. :smug1:


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## Kitties (Jul 20, 2018)

Keesha said:


> Now that I have a medical practitioner again I shall ask about this.
> My reasoning isn’t  because I just don’t care,  or am physically disabled.
> I’m not psychologically able to participate in that type of thing and just the thought of needing to call somebody about it , considering it is the government,  got me panicked enough. ( the need to explain it all ) Hadn’t considered being exempt from the whole thing. Thank you for the info.
> I supposed I should consider myself lucky then. :smug1:



My MD wrote it out on his small letter head pad, something like "excuse from jury duty permanent" He did it the minute I asked. I called the court house section for jury duty and to my surprise the lady was very nice. She said that was enough, yes. She said sometimes they get long letters with detailed health information and she stated "we are not entitled to that information" She stated to make a copy of what my doctor wrote for my records and sent the original in. Within a week I received a letter permanently excusing me from jury duty. It said to keep for your records.

So no, you don't need to explain anything to them. Just tell your doctor. I just told my doctor I had history of abuse and bullying and I didn't want to be exposed to that conflict. Done.

Do it. Please. And remember the only one you need to explain anything to is your doctor. Not the jury duty court system.


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## terry123 (Jul 20, 2018)

My sister got called and when she was questioned informed them that if someone was on trial they were probably guilty.  She lives in a very small town and they promptly excused her.  She does not think they will bother her again.


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## Keesha (Jul 20, 2018)

Kitties said:


> My MD wrote it out on his small letter head pad, something like "excuse from jury duty permanent" He did it the minute I asked. I called the court house section for jury duty and to my surprise the lady was very nice. She said that was enough, yes. She said sometimes they get long letters with detailed health information and she stated "we are not entitled to that information" She stated to make a copy of what my doctor wrote for my records and sent the original in. Within a week I received a letter permanently excusing me from jury duty. It said to keep for your records.
> 
> So no, you don't need to explain anything to them. Just tell your doctor. I just told my doctor I had history of abuse and bullying and I didn't want to be exposed to that conflict. Done.
> 
> Do it. Please. And remember the only one you need to explain anything to is your doctor. Not the jury duty court system.



Thank you so much Kitties This is reassuring. I’d like to automatically be excempt permanently and did not realize it’s this simple. That explaining thing gets old and embarrassing at times. You never know who you are going to get on the other end.,

:thankyou1:


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## Keesha (Jul 20, 2018)

terry123 said:


> My sister got called and when she was questioned informed them that if someone was on trial they were probably guilty.  She lives in a very small town and they promptly excused her.  She does not think they will bother her again.


Then there’s THIS approach! I’d probably take it step further  just for reinforcement :rofl:


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## rgp (Jul 20, 2018)

Keesha said:


> Then there’s THIS approach! I’d probably take it step further  just for reinforcement :rofl:




My county does it differently, they ask no questions until you are in the jury pool,for a specific trial. I ignored several notices, finally wrote a letter, no excuse granted. Then got my doc to write one noting my arthritis ...that worked. I'm excused from the draw.

Just no way in hell I want to hang around either standing on marble or sitting on wooden benches all day waiting for ??? And if nothing happens after all day, we are required to return two more days in succession .


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## AprilT (Jul 20, 2018)

JimW said:


> I got as far as you did with jury duty Dave. My group was called and the jury selection took place, my number was so high that they had already selected the jury before they even got close to my number. We were all thanked for our time and excused.
> 
> *Jury duty is not fun, but if everyone decided not to go just because they didn't feel like it, where would our judicial system be then?*



I agree with you, not fun, but a necessary thing to keep the process working properly so if one is physically and mentally capable of serving, I see no reason to play games to get out of it.  

Today most people in charge of this process are used to all the tricks of the past people have pulled and in many places they no longer work.  You might be that unlucky one to get a warrant for contempt of court so be far warned.  the court here where I live, they have stricter requirements, you need an official letter of excuse.  

I have many medical issues, some of which were giving me real issues at this time, which is the only reason I chose not to serve.  I was still going to show up for that first day regardless of the hoops I had to jump through to get there had they not canceled the day for all.  I was almost certain then at some point I would have been excused since I had a letter from my doctor's office and I was.  

Honestly I don't mean to sound like I'm being judgmental, I do get not wanting to serve, it's a tedious process going through the selection process in and of itself, I sat through that years ago and wouldn't have been selected for any case no matter, but, I as a citizen do feel I owe it to my fellow citizens to do my civic duty when called upon when able.  We have enough people who don't take out judicial laws and constitutions seriously.  But hey, that's just how I feel, seems the thing today is to chit all over anything having to do with caring about this country, so as you were.  

But really, be careful trying to game the legal system, you just might find yourself in the system in ways you'd never expected.


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## JimW (Jul 23, 2018)

AprilT said:


> I agree with you, not fun, but a necessary thing to keep the process working properly so if one is physically and mentally capable of serving, I see no reason to play games to get out of it.
> 
> Today most people in charge of this process are used to all the tricks of the past people have pulled and in many places they no longer work.  You might be that unlucky one to get a warrant for contempt of court so be far warned.  the court here where I live, they have stricter requirements, you need an official letter of excuse.
> 
> ...



I agree, well said!


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## Butterfly (Jul 23, 2018)

AprilT said:


> I agree with you, not fun, but a necessary thing to keep the process working properly so if one is physically and mentally capable of serving, I see no reason to play games to get out of it.
> 
> Today most people in charge of this process are used to all the tricks of the past people have pulled and in many places they no longer work.  You might be that unlucky one to get a warrant for contempt of court so be far warned.  the court here where I live, they have stricter requirements, you need an official letter of excuse.
> 
> ...



I agree!


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## Sunny (Jul 24, 2018)

Just to put in a word FOR jury duty, although it is not what anyone would call "fun," I found my one time on a jury a very satisfying experience. I got lucky; it was a one-day stint, the crime was a minor one, almost funny (the swaggering young jerk had stolen his girlfriend's grandmother's car, and then claimed that he was just "borrowing" it), and it took us less than an hour of deliberation to find him guilty. 

I liked sitting in the jury box, in fact, I remember thinking, "Wow! This is real! It is not a movie!  I am really being entrusted with this. The system works!" It was pretty satisfying to look the guy straight in the eye and say out loud at the end, "Guilty!"

Admittedly, a murder trial would have been a lot less fun.


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## Olivia (Jul 24, 2018)

I served on three juries and I really like jury duty. And it's not because I had nothing else to do. I went into work before and after serving for the day. One of the prosecuting attorneys became a well-known defense attorney a few years later.  I'm just fascinated by the whole legal system. If I had to do it all over again, I'd love to be a trial attorney.   And I really love watching Investigation Discovery on TV--gets me away from my previous fixture of cable news. What a relief from all that stuff! Lol


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## Butterfly (Jul 25, 2018)

Olivia said:


> I served on three juries and I really like jury duty. And it's not because I had nothing else to do. I went into work before and after serving for the day. One of the prosecuting attorneys became a well-known defense attorney a few years later.  I'm just fascinated by the whole legal system. If I had to do it all over again, I'd love to be a trial attorney.   And I really love watching Investigation Discovery on TV--gets me away from my previous fixture of cable news. What a relief from all that stuff! Lol



Being a trial attorney isn't the glamorous thing they show on TV.  After spending a lifetime working in law offices, I can assure you that it is more hard and tedious work, late nights and incredible stress than anything else.


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## fmdog44 (Jul 25, 2018)

I have gone three times but never chosen. I hate the morning rush hour drive downtown Houston so I left very early to beat it. After age 70 1/2 you will never be called again.


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## IKE (Sep 24, 2018)

IKE; 7-19-2018 said:
			
		

> I'm not complaining but I've never been called for jury duty.




I spoke too soon......received a letter in the mail today that states I've got to be at the court house at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 29th for jury duty.

They're going to pay me a whopping $20.00 a day, give me a little for mileage and validate my parking.....WOW ! I feel like I hit the lotto.

Not sure yet what I'll do with all that extra $$$$.......I'm thinking either a cruise around the world or a trip to the Mickey D's drive thru window.


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## 911 (Sep 25, 2018)

Too many replies to read, but I will add my own two-cents. If the summons is for state jury, then the state has their own rules regarding appearance. If you received the summons late, then here in PA, we would just notify the Clerk of Courts. Never just throw it away. Rule here in PA is if the summons had not been returned to the sender (Clerk of Courts) within fifteen (15) days, then the mail would have been considered received by the person the letter was addressed to. Also, anyone age 70 or older is also eligible to be released from serving. Here in Pennsylvania, simply ignoring a summons to appear will cause the judge to issue a bench warrant and that person will be booked into jail, unless they are able to post bond. 

I know we have all heard that serving on a jury or at least reporting for jury duty, even if not selected is a privilege. I believe in this statement. Unless, someone has an acceptable excuse that would release any of us from serving, we should report as stated on the summons. You would not believe some of the things potential jurors will do or say to be excluded from serving.


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## Manatee (Sep 25, 2018)

In Florida you are exempt if you are over 70, in Arizona it is 75.


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## Falcon (Sep 25, 2018)

Hmmmm.    You've got me thinking  about  moving  to Arizona.


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## Olivia (Sep 25, 2018)

Jury Duty rules in Hawaii:



> Being elderly does not exclude you from serving on a jury.





> However, you can ask to be excused from federal jury duty if you are 70 or older, and, as of last year, you can be excused from serving on a state jury if you are 80 or older. But unless you claim the age exemption, there is no age limit to serving on any jury.




http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/06/04/news/kokualine.html


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