.jpg) Judge Roger Klein |
Almost six dozen passers-by in downtown Greeley have been tapped on the shoulder and ordered to report for jury duty – immediately, in a fiasco that still hasn’t been explained fully.
Court officials said of 200 summonses sent recently to residents of Weld County, only 39 reported for their civic duty, so an order was issued by District Judge Roger Klein for court administrators to simply hand out orders demanding immediate jury service to anyone they could find.
Eventually they found about 70 people who previously had been running various errands in downtown Greeley for summon into the courtroom.
Authorities blame a lack of concern for justice for the people’s failure to respond. It is “a disgrace” that people fail to appear for jury duty, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck told the Greeley Tribune.
“People don’t feel like there is a consequence, but there is,” he said. Those who fail to appear face penalties of up to $750 in fines or even six months in jail, and for the defendants in the cases at hand, judges may dismiss them if a jury is lacking, he said.
However, on the newspaper’s forum feature, “JEG,” offered another explanation.
“I had received a jury summons for Tuesday but when I called in it said my number as well as a lot of other numbers were not to report for jury. I find it hard to believe that of 200 people that were summoned only 39 showed up,” the writer said.
In Colorado, residents are summoned for jury duty in writing. But in most counties the procedures suggest potential jurors call the courthouse the night before they are to appear, and they are allowed to listen to a recording from court officials about which jurors, by identification number, are expected to appear to meet the court schedule demands.
Karen McMillan was upset when handed the notice while grocery shopping.
“You need to give us warning,” McMillan told court officials, according to a report in the Tribune, “We have jobs to go to.”
“I have like five tons of stuff to do at work,” she said.
Karen Salaz, the judicial court administrator, said the court rarely has resorted to picking people off the streets, but it happened in November, and then again both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Some attorneys used the situation to request delays in cases.
State public defender Stephanie Stout asked County Judge Michele Meyer to stop jury selection in a drunken driving case that was pending because the selection wasn’t random, and people who were upset could affect a jury’s decision to make an objective decision.
The judge rejected her request.
On the newspaper forum, “Ole,” had a solution. “They need to investigate thoroughly and then if these folks simply blew it off then arrived (sic) at their house with a warrant, slap them in the pokey and then when they have to show up for their trial they can be held accountable with a fine or some time.
“If the county messed up then I would say that the same holds true,” he wrote.
“Seems to me that this is more of an issue than people not showing up. How can that many people all fail to show up? Were the summons’ (sic) really mailed out? When people called in or checked online to see if they needed to report – was that accurate – did it notify everybody that they didn’t need to report?” added “igmula1.” “I think this problem needs a little more investigation – just doesn’t seem quite right.”
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