[ALawPoker]

I am originally from Massachusetts, and went away to college in NY in 2001. Since the summer of 2005 I have been living permanently in NY, and paying taxes to NY state.

Over the past few years I had gotten a few letters for jury duty, which I (stupidly) ignored, assuming if I was fined for not showing up that I could use being away at college as an easy excuse.

Yesterday, (I happen to be in MA right now) I received a letter telling me that I'm being charged with a misdemeanor (for non performance of jury service) and am sentenced to a court date at the end of January.

The "offense date" is listed as 3/18/04, so that's actually when I was in college. Though I presume they had also been sending me other stuff since then.

I know I was stupid and that there was probably an easy way to inform them that I was out of state the first time they mailed me for duty, yada yada. But right now I'm trying to decide what my best play is, and would appreciate any advice.

Do I just wait til my trial? (lol, I can't help but laugh at the idea of having a trial over this.) Do I get in touch with someone and tell them my story? Will this work? Am I screwed? Any advice how I should specifically defend my position?

I mean, I admit I was just lazy/stupid. But at the same time, I really don't live in MA anymore, and (like I said) have been paying taxes to another state. So I don't see much reason why this should be a problem; but the formal criminal complaint is pretty out of the blue and upsetting.

I like having the ironically clean record, and would prefer to keep it that way. Any and all help is appreciated.