JURY DUTY

Is anyone else as mystified by Jury Duty as I am? Am I the only person who does not positively know where the List of Eligible Jurors is kept? Is it made up of property owners, voters, those with drivers licenses? Think you know? Are you sure?

I moved to Florida from Michigan in 2004. During my years in Michigan I was called upon several times to serve Jury Duty. I always went, never was late, and felt it was a civic duty not to be avoided. I never bothered to wonder why my name came to the top of the pile. It was just another fact of life.

I’ve been living in Florida as a property owner who votes and has a drivers license for 6 years and so far, nothing. Someone actually told me that there is an age limit and a person can be too old to serve. I say, “Hog wash, that can’t be right.”

My mother turned 80 years old in February, 2009 and sadly passed away suddenly in May of that same years.

Now, keep up with me here. Those dates are important. In June of 2010, my honey and I were going on a 5-day cruise. The morning that we were to drive to the Port of Miami, I went by the condo that I inherited from my mother to make sure the empty home was secure and no important mail was sitting in the mailbox.

Naturally I was in a hurry. I made a quick trip through the condo, looking here and there to see that all was in order, with my ears on high alert to make sure there was no dripping faucets or water leaks. When I was convinced that all was as it should be, I headed back to the car with a quick stop at the mailbox.

My honey was waiting for me and if we were late, missed our ship, I sure didn’t want it to be my fault. I stuffed the mail into my purse to look at later and headed south the 10.9 miles to Honey’s House. Once there all of our luggage went into one trunk. We programmed our GPS and began our drive to Miami.

We were about half way there when I remember the few envelopes that I had taken from my mother’s mailbox. As I pulled it out of my purse and sorted through it, I saw that most of it was junk, accessed to resident or occupant, but there was one official looking envelope that had her name on the front.

As I was pondering what doctor bill or such that may have been floating around inside someone’s computer for the past year, I opened it up and began to read. My mother was to REPORT FOR JURY DUTY that very day. I was stunned. My first irrational thought was, “Well, for goodness sakes, they don’t give a person much notice do they?” Then I realized that the letter could have been laying in her mailbox for several days but certainly not for an entire year.

I don’t remember the exact words on the Report For Jury Duty Notice but it was clear that the person who received the notice was supposed to be there or ELSE. I read all of this to my honey feeling quite bewildered. I said to him, “She’s not going to be there today. What will they do?”

His answer, “Probably issue a warrant for her arrest, I would think.”

“Are you kidding me? I suppose if someone comes knocking on my door looking for her with a warrant, I could give them the cemetery address and plot number in Kentucky. Do you think they’d go dig her up and give her a fine?”

After we batted that back and forth for several minutes, I finally called the phone number on the notice. When I was able to finally get a real live person on the phone, I gave her my mother’s name, all the information on the notice and the date of her death. To her credit, the lady on the other end of the phone was very polite and understanding as to why my mom would be unable to fulfill her obligation.

Which brings me back to the original question. Where is that list of people to call up for Jury Duty and who determines what names are on it? Fifteen months after her death, my mother was not a property owner, a voter not a drivers license holder.

Ahhh, what a mystery?

                 © copyright Donna Hale Chandler