For Some, the Jury Is Always Out

Got my jury summons in the mail this week. My wife got hers the same day, which we found strange, since we have different last names.

We mailed back promptly that we’d be there. We’re big believers that when called, you’re supposed to serve.

Not everybody feels that way though. At least 10% of those who are summoned simply skip out on jury duty. Thu Nguyen, jury services manager, knows these people are being negligent, because if the person summoned simply doesn’t live at that address anymore, the summons is sent back to Superior Court by the post office. And that accounts for another 10%.

It was Nguyen who convinced me that a column on jury duty was appropriate for a safety page, when she said:

“Serving on a jury is not only a civic duty, it’s something you should want to do. It’s like giving blood. If your loved one needed blood, you’d want to know it was there. And if you had a loved one on trial, you’d want to know that there were people willing to serve impartially on the jury.”

It’s been three years since I’ve been called. But Nguyen says it’s not surprising for someone to be called every 12 months.

Here’s how it works.

The county shoves into the computer a full list of registered voters and a full list of licensed drivers. It then weeds out the duplicates and those not eligible by age.

Jury Commissioner Alan Slater then sends out about 800,000 summonses a year. Three of every four summoned are either excused, found ineligible or deferred to another date. And getting deferrals is easy.

“We want our jurors to serve when it is most convenient for them,” Nguyen said.

There’s also something called the “on call” service. You simply call the court where you are summoned (the phone number is on the back of the summons) and say you want to call in instead of appearing in person. Usually you call in on a Friday after the date you are to appear to see if and when you are needed. Nguyen said about half who are summoned prefer to be “on call”.

Now there’s a downside to all this that many of you who are civic-minded are not going to like. What happens to the 10% who thumb their nose at Slater and his staff?

Almost nothing.

The California Code of Civil Procedures calls for up to a $1,500 fine and five days in jail for failure to serve. But Orange County, always financially strapped when it comes to court services, simply doesn’t have the means to enforce it.

So if you ignore a summons, says Nguyen, “we give the scofflaws a second chance.” If you ignore a second summons, then you get a nasty letter. And if you ignore the nasty letter? Well, then you just have to live with yourself.

The upside is that Orange County was one of the first in California to streamline to a “one day or one trial” system. You show up on your given date, and if you aren’t picked for a jury, you’re done. At least until the next summons. If you are picked, you get $5 a day plus 15 cents a mile. (There’s a bill pending in Sacramento to up the daily fee to $12.)

I’ll appear as ordered and secretly hope I don’t get picked. My wife will go and hope she does get picked. (I’ll confess, her civic duty streak runs deeper than mine.)

And how was it, I asked Nguyen, that a married couple got picked for jury duty on the same day?

“Absolutely sheer coincidence,” she said. “Nothing more than that.”

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Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7789 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.