Jury Duty, with Complications

[pameladean]

Edited to Add: Posting with the monkeybrain, sans medication, food, coffee, or considered thought. I think I'll just leave this up as an example. And hey, look, even the monkeybrain can spell and punctuate and write complex sentences.

So I came upstairs this morning and there was an envelope on my keyboard from the Fourth Judicial District Court, Hennepin County Jury's Office. That was all right, but I was horrified to see upon opening the envelope that I had been supposed to appear on February 27th. I don't know where the glitch in delivery was. There is no postmark on the envelope. Nobody else is up, but my guess is that this envelope got mixed up in somebody else's mail, most probably by getting stuck firmly inside a catalog, and was only just found. We are always finding important mail inside of catalogs, but that's mostly after wondering, "Wait a minute, where's the phone bill?" or "Wasn't a check supposed to be coming?" So then we go and look. Obviously, I wasn't expecting this. Or maybe it just arrived, but there's no way to prove that without a postmark.

After a lot of panicked searching of the form, I did find a telephone number, but of course their office hours are only Monday through Friday. Now I get to spend the whole weekend gibbering. Has anyody else ever been in this stupid situation, particularly with Hennepin County? I am seriously unnerved and upset here.

P.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Now I will be paranoid about all the catalogs I have recycled unexamined. I'd better shake them.

[pameladean]

Well, we are really unsure about whether this is a habit of our mail deliverer, a weird artifact of some new postal sorting thingy somewhere, or sheer chance. This house, this mail route, is the only place such things have happened to any of us.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, but the monkeybrain has decided that all rejection letters must have been in the leaves of the catalog. Everything has already been rejected by everybody, and I am waiting around trying to be polite and patient for nothing and -- [pant pant pant]

Okay, I'm better now. I just had to get that out of my system.

[pameladean]

I am very sorry that my monkeybrain upset your monkeybrain. My monkeybrain was worried about going to jail. I'm not sure they do that even if you wilfully and with malice aforethought miss your jury duty.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

They do not, I'm pretty sure, or half the county would be in jail. That's why they call so many people.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Please do not worry about this. Seriously. It's NOT worth gibbering over.

Stuff like this happens all the time; it's part of the human condition. If you phone them Monday, it will be okay. Having good will about it--wanting to do the right thing--will count a lot when you talk to them, so be calm.

[pameladean]

At least they aren't Republicans hereabouts.

Sorry. I do think the wholesale hideousness of the Bush Administration has led me to view any governmental body with the idea that it will mess with me just for the fun of it.

Thank you. I will now breathe normally.

P.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Happened to me. I called them, they told me my group hadn't been called, and I was off the hook for a year.

[pameladean]

Thank you. I will now attempt to be a grown-up.

I hate official forms. They make me feel as if I'm about to take a huge multiple-choice test in a language not familiar to me.

P.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

My latest interactions with the court system have been through the satellite courthouse near my house. The people there are very mellow and have pointed out breaks to me that I wasn't allowing myself. This interaction has really reduced the "multiple-choice test in a language not familiar to me" effect for me.

[jenett]

My one experience with the process (out in Massachusetts) was .. well, they were fine with the idea that sometimes the summons gets lost in the mail (or you're out of town for multiple weeks when it arrives/you're called, or whatever, and don't see it till you get back.)

Calling and saying "Oh, my gosh, we just found this, what do I need to do?" and being willing to show up at a later time usually makes things just fine.

Massachusetts was, the one time I did jury duty, not terribly sane about the idea that I was a registered voter in my home town - Winchester, Middlesex county - but they called me based on the college county (Essex? Wherever Wellesley is, which is the Dedham courthouse.

Except, of course, it is almost impossible to get from Winchester to Dedham (or for that matter, Wellesley to Dedham) in the morning if you don't drive without it taking 4 hours. (If you do drive, it takes about 2 from Winchester, due to the joys of 128/95)

They refused to budge on my, you know, being thrown on the roster in Middlesex county, instead, but did let me reschedule for over a vacation, so I could arrange transport. (In general, I think most states let you reschedule once for pretty much any reason, and usually let you pick at least a week that's manageable for you, if not the day.)

[pameladean]

Massachusetts was pretty shirty with me too, lo these many years ago. It did not compute with them that I didn't drive and there was no public transit between Hudson and Framingham. David drove me in for the first day on his way to work, and luckily they did not need any jurors that day.

P.

[tangentsferret.livejournal.com]

Um, hi, random fan, found you here more or less by accident: I googled "Jury Duty" and checked a bunch of FAQs: the scariest thing they mention is being fined (fines varying from $50.00 to $150.00), which is Not Good, but far better than mean men with truncheons showing up at the door and taking you away.

P.S. Thank you for writing!

(creeps away embarrassed for intruding)

[pameladean]

Hey, no creeping required! If I didn't want people I don't know weighing in I'd do a locked post.

I hope they won't fine me but it isn't going to be a huge deal if they do. I was actually starting to wonder why they don't even bother to get in touch with people who don't show up, but I guess it's a lot more trouble than it's worth to them.

P.

[willshetterly.livejournal.com]

Don't be scared by mentions of fines and such! You're not in the habit of blowing off jury duty. Either they'll reschedule you, or they'll say your group got out of it this time. Enjoy the weekend!

[pameladean]

Well, I've hardly had the chance to develop the habit, since this is the first time I've been summoned in something like thirty years.

P.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I don't know about your county, but in my area it's not a huge deal. There's no fine or arrest warrant or anything. They just politely ask you to reschedule. :) I'm sure it'll be fine. They *expect* a huge number of the summonses to not be answered.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

This ALMOST happened to me. I found my jury duty notice on Friday and was scheduled to show up on Monday (which I did). I don't even have the excuse about the catalogs - we just don't sort the mail as often as we should at our house. The letter is pretty scary looking, I must agree.

Hennepin County allows you one free "reschedule me, no questions asked," and I suspect you just used yours up. I think they will reschedule you to another date within 3 or 6 months (and you'd darn well better show up that time).

Jury duty is actually kind of fun if you have even a mild interest in how the legal system works and something like needlework to pass the time. All the official people I had contact with were very pleasant and patient; I'm sure you'll be okay as long as you call on Monday and tell them what happened.

[pameladean]

Yuck. It would have been better to get it over with in February. I have a book deadline. Oh, well, maybe they won't like me.

P.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

Edited to Add: Posting with the monkeybrain...

It wasn't that type of thing. *h* the admin is what you think it, and govn agency's oh so lame. Things do happen. It was a legitimate query.

I hope they were good catalogues. I love those especially right now, where it is not quite true Spring. Well, that is me.. the birds seem to think it. And the Iris and the Daffs are up.

Hard to say about the others.. the demon pup has been playing fast and loose with things in the thaws.

*smile* there are red buds in the roses though...

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I frequently think that it's only good, decent people who get upset at this sort of thing.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

My explanation that I'd been on another continent at the time was accepted. They didn't schedule me again, and I've never before or since gotten a jury duty notice.

"Was it monkeys? Some sort of horrible space monkeys?"

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Ya'know, I call the back of my brain (where all evil dwells) my "reptile brain". Think I'd rather have monkeys, especially after watching way too many of* Firefly episodes.
*(grammatical error intentionally left in --sorry)

[cogitationitis.livejournal.com]

Having recently finished a long spate of jury duty for a murder trial, I learned that a lot of people ignore the summons. Indeed, the courts really don't chase them down, since they don't have the resources to do so. I expect they'll be pleasantly surprised when you 'fess up & tell them it got lost.

[sraun]

One of my co-workers is off to Hennepin County Jury Duty on Monday, which reminded of this. How did it turn out?