Skipping jury duty could lead to jail time

INDIANAPOLIS – A Marion County court has started a new get-tough policy that could lead to jail time for some people who skip jury duty.\nMarion Superior Court will begin sending a court hearing summons to people who don’t show up. At the hearing, the potential jurors will receive a new date for jury duty.\nIf they fail to show up for service a second time, judges will issue arrest warrants and could hold them in contempt of court. That might lead to either community service or even jail time.\n“We’ve reached the point where too many people are not showing up,” said Judge Mark Stoner, who oversees the jury pool.\nLast year, only 52 percent of prospective jurors showed up on assigned days.\n“We’ve always hoped that sounding the alarm would solve the problem,” Presiding Judge Gerald Zore said. “It’s a civic duty.”\nState law requires jurors to show up, but enforcement has been weak for years in Marion County, which has hundreds of trials each year. Court officials have had to call in double the number of jurors requested by courts and hope enough people show up.\nOn Friday, the jury pool met its quota of 70 potential jurors by calling in 160. They were screened for an Oct. 29 murder trial.\nE.A. Miller reported for duty Friday because he knows others hate to miss work.\n“If I’m on the jury, it gives someone who has a job a break,” said Miller, 52, who collects disability benefits for back injuries. “It just keeps me from going fishing.”\nThe General Assembly has removed a limit of three days in jail for people who skip jury duty. This allows judges to impose longer sentences, but Stoner said community service will be the more realistic punishment. Jail overcrowding makes time behind bars unlikely, he said.