Ditching duty can be costly
SANTA MONICA COURTHOUSE — For some, jury duty can be a real bitch.
It can be an even bigger pain for the jury delinquents who ignore repeated summons and are called to court to explain themselves before a judge, or risk paying a $250 penalty.
On an unseasonably hot Monday afternoon, eight Southland residents, accused of ditching their civic obligation time and time again, sat in a quiet, air-conditioned courtroom waiting their turn to tell the judge why they skipped out on jury duty.
One month each year, the LA County Juror Services orders the residents who were supposed to appear at Santa Monica Courthouse for jury duty to go before a judge and explain themselves. Juror Services summons a different pool of delinquents once a week throughout the month before they head to another courthouse.
Only residents who ignored four notifications to appear for jury duty are ordered to appear.
The excuses are generally the same: “I never got my summons in the mail” and “I threw it away because I didn’t think it was important,” according to Espie Van Beek, administrator for LA County Juror Services.
On Monday, 164 residents were supposed to have appeared before the judge. Eight showed.
“This is what we usually get,” said Van Beek, as she glanced at the poor turnout inside the courtroom.
Those 156 people who failed to show will be hit with a $250 fine since they exhausted all four chances to redeem themselves. Second-time offenders who ignore the juror process again will pay $750, and third-time offenders will have to cough up $1,500.
For those who took the time out of their day to beg forgiveness, the judge will usually assign them a future date to serve and suspend the $250 fine if they pull through on their promise, explained Van Beek. But sometimes, the judge may not be in a forgiving mood and will order the delinquent juror to pay the fine on top of serving.
Luckily for those who showed on Monday, Judge Gerald Rosenberg was in a generous mood.
Nearly everyone who appeared before Rosenberg was assigned another date and even given the chance to appear at a courthouse closer to their homes. “Show up and I’ll suspend your fine,” Rosenberg said.
Several people said they never received the summons in the mail because they had long since moved from the address where the notification was sent. Joseph Martinez, of Gardena, said his notices were all mailed to his former address in Mar Vista.
Martinez was surprised during an October day when he opened a letter from LA County Juror Services ordering him to appear before a judge.
“It said I had to be here, so I said to myself, ‘I better get there,’” said Martinez, before the hearing.
Rosenberg reassigned him to serve at the Airport Courthouse next month.
One man raised his voice at the judge, claiming that his doctor had sent letters that he was unable to serve because of a medical condition. The man said he has been in treatment for three years and asked the court stop “harassing” him.
The judge, staring at the most recent letter from the doctor, questioned the man, raising the fact that the original summons was sent in 2002, more than four years ago.
The medical condition includes heart complications, a broken ankle and a troubled knee, the man said. Eventually, Rosenberg dismissed the man from jury service.
The experience on Monday was a first for many of the juror delinquents. For others, the entire jury duty system was a completely new experience.
An Israeli man appeared Monday after each of his original summons notices were mailed to a Los Angeles address where he lived for three weeks before moving to Sherman Oaks.
The man asked Rosenberg questions about jury duty — the amount it pays and what “duty” actually entails.
“You will enjoy it,” Rosenberg joked. “You get $15 a day. You get paid bupkis.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 9, 2007. Read the original PDF.