RICHMOND, IN — Eight Wayne County residents offered explanations — and in some cases, apologies — for recently failing to report for jury duty.
In February, about 20 local residents failed to respond to jury-duty summonses issued for a Wayne Circuit Court drug-dealing trial.
That prompted Judge April Drake to issue contempt-of-court notices for the prospective jurors who had failed to show up.
Deputies were unable to deliver summonses to about 10 of those citizens, who apparently no longer live at the addresses in court records.
A few of the other cases were otherwise resolved. One prospective juror was determined to have recently died. Another was older than 75, providing them the option to not participate in the jury process.
Of the eight Wayne County residents who appeared before Drake at hearings on Wednesday afternoon, most said they had not received the mailed notices to appear in February.
“I would have been here,” said one woman, who indicated she and her husband “obey the law.”
Another woman apologized for not returning a questionnaire she had received in an earlier mailing from the court system.
One of the would-be jurors said her family had been evicted from their home shortly before the jury summons would have arrived.
Another maintained she had received her summons only after the February trial had been conducted.
A woman who said she had “always wanted to be a juror” indicated her family had been “in between houses” since her husband was recently placed in a nursing home in Ohio.
Another woman who said she “absolutely would have been here” acknowledged there was a chance her children had retrieved her household’s mail the day the summons arrived and then misplaced it.
“I will make sure the kids don’t get to the mail before me,” she told the judge.
A man brought documentation he was hospitalized in an intensive care unit at the time of the February trial.
Another man said he was working in Mansfield, Ohio — about 170 miles northeast of Richmond — at the time of the trial and maintained he was unsuccessful in reaching court officials to explain his situation.
The judge found none of the eight prosecutive jurors in contempt of court. She suggested some check with postal officials to make certain their mail is being properly delivered, and she discussed the importance of contacting court officials when potential problems arise.
The judge said she was trying to “drive home” how important participation in the jury process is. She noted how a court’s inability to seat a jury could affect not only participants in the case, but those in other cases as well.
The prospective jurors — seated in the courtroom’s jury box —also watched a video, shown to those who report for jury duty statewide, that addressed the importance of jury duty.
In the video, Loretta Rush, chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, said jurors are “not just observing justice, you’re delivering it.”
After making general comments to the group, Drake questioned each person individually, while their fellow would-be jurors were outside the courtroom.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Wayne County residents offer explanations for missing jury duty
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Richmond Palladium-Item / Muncie Star Press
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