Summoned for jury duty? What to know

Jury duty is considered a civic responsibility. Some people may not be aware of the process of jury duty or what happens if one were to miss it.

“When we get ready to have a jury trial, depending on the type of case or the charges, we would tend to request or summon 300 or 350 to come,” 25th Judicial District Judge William D. Old said. “That’s if it were a murder or a sexual assault. If it was just a forgery or a lower-level felony, we would request 200 at the most.”

“If I tell you this case is going to be a sexual assault of a child, half the people out there will not want to hear that kind of case and they’re going to think of every reason under the sun to get out of doing the case. You lose a lot of people. It’s disheartening to see that happen, but it does happen frequently. So, we make sure that if we have a case like that then we have plenty of jurors. When we get through the whole process, we need to have at least 36 people left. That includes the 12 jurors and two alternates. If we don’t have enough, it’s busted panel. Everybody goes home, we lose a jury week and then we have to do it again some other time.”

There are instances where people are either disqualified from serving on jury duty or they can be excused.

“Disqualification is set by statute,” Old said. “For a typical jury, you have to be 18 or older to serve. You have to be a citizen and you have to be eligible to vote. That means a convicted felon couldn’t serve. This also includes any theft as well. You must also be of sound mind and good moral character. Serving as a juror within the past three months can also disqualify you.”

There are also exemptions for serving on jury duty.

“The most common reasons for that is if a person has a child under 18 with a caveat that the child wouldn’t have adequate supervision,” Old said. “This means that the person is the only one that picks up their kid and don’t have any family around. That’s a valid excuse and most common.”

Those who are over 75 years old don’t have to serve as well. This is another common excuse according to Old.

“That was just changed a couple of years ago,” Old said. “It had been 70, but since the population is getting older, it is now 75.”

Those who are in public or private school or are enrolled in a university don’t have to serve.

For instance, a person’s name may get pulled for another county. So if a person gets called for Lavaca County, but live in DeWitt County then they are also disqualified.

District Clerk Lori Wenske said people are randomly selected for jury duty and it is possible that some people may be called to jury duty twice in one year. Old said it doesn’t occur often, but it can happen. 

“In smaller counties with a smaller voter and driver pull, your chances of getting called are much greater,” Old said.

People do get compensated in Lavaca County for serving on a jury. 

“The first day, they get $20,” Wenske said. “For each additional day, people will get $58. We issue a debit card for compensation. When they come in during the morning, we ask them if they would like to be paid or if they want to donate. If they want to be paid, we scan a debit card. Once the jury trial is over with, the funds get loaded in their card.”

They use this same system in Colorado, Gonzales and DeWitt counties as well. 

If someone misses jury duty without notifying the court, there could be some consequences.

“As long as we seat a jury, then nothing happens,” Old said. “If I don’t seat a jury, they get summoned. They first get summoned by mail and if they don’t show up again, then we send a deputy out and they get summoned in person.”

The fines for this could be up to $100. “After Covid, some people didn’t want to show up,” Old said. “This still happens sometimes even when we’re past Covid.”

Old said jury duty is so important. “It’s part of history,” Old said. “This country doesn’t ask a lot of its citizens, but we do ask to serve on a jury. It’s so important and such a fundamental right in the judicial system to have a jury trial. It’s not too much to ask either in my opinion.”

Old said most people end up enjoying being on a jury at the end of the day. 

“In Lavaca and Colorado County, I can always count on there being plenty of people to show up for jury duty,” Old said. “The people in this county are great citizens and great patriots and they understand their duty to serve.”