Jury Duty: what if you've thrown away the summons?

Question

I pay all my bills online, I use e-mail to communicate with friends, and so I consider any mail that comes to me junk. The only reason I ever bother opening my mailbox is to fish out the bright red Netflix envelopes and throw away everything else. I've been doing this for years. A couple of people at work were talking about jury duty, and I realized I may very well have received summons for jury duty in the years I've been doing this, and since I don't look at the mail at all, it all would have just been thrown away. Is that illegal? The way I see it I'm not deliberately ignoring or avoiding jury duty: if the government made sure the only thing in my mailbox other than Netflix was jury duty summons I'd probably look at and open the envelope, but if I throw away all my mail without even caring what it is, can "they," whoever that would be, come after me? Thanks.

Answer 1

If you don't show up for jury duty it is a crime punishable with fines &/or jail time. They can come after you but probably won't as it is a minor crime. Do not contact the county courthouse to see if they are looking for you as you might have slipped through the cracks. But do check your mail more throughly in the future.

Answer 2

nicely it type of feels he's in a position to get away with it. i'd imagine the police have extra significant issues to address than spending time choosing up all the individuals who do not respond to jury duty summons. per chance his voter registration will be revoked? i comprehend those who gained't register to vote b/c they don't pick to observed as as a lot as jury duty. Hmmm.

Answer 3

Ignorance excuses no one. Thus, by accidentally throwing away letters regarding jury duty, you might be punished for not attending a duty. Anyway, you can cite your valid defense because of what you do with junk mail.

Answer 4

That is a really dumb thing to do. You should call your local courthouse and find out if you have ever been called for jury duty and ask them what to do. There should be a jury coordinator in every courthouse. You may find that you can't get your drivers' licence or something if you don't get it straightened out.

Answer 5

It depends on the state. In CA they are cracking down on people who ignore their summons's. That can mean arrest and contempt of court.

Answer 6

It's no big deal. I once failed to report and called them up.. all they did was reschedule me. The only downside is that ppl whom have rescheduled have a harder time getting out of it.