HELP! (personal/low content)

[ALawPoker]

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What would happen if you told them you didn't receive the summons? Seems like it would be hard for the state to prove you did.

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We'll find out, heh. But that's probably what I'll end up claiming.

I'll probably bite the bullet and get an attorney.

I really hate the idea of paying taxes to one state, and then facing criminal penalties (and if nothing else, attorney fees) for failure to attend jury duty in another state.

Like I said, I did get the requests for duty and (stupidly) ignored them. But if they sent me any sort of recent "warning" or last chance opportunity to attend duty, I legitimately did not see that. I haven't seen anything for at least a year and a half.

It seems kind of weird to me that out of the blue I would get a criminal charge for something from 2004.

[vulturesrow]

At the very least it should provide a great story of the oppressiveness of the state at your next AC get together. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[ALawPoker]

Ya. I hope pvn remembers to bring the marshmallows.

[JammyDodga]

Why is everyone supporting this guy?

If you went to trial for something you didn't do, and didn't have a jury because no one turned up, and wound up being tried by a judge, how would you feel?

I know that's not going to happen, but if everyone did what he did, thats where we would be.

On a more direct point, people at college, or with porffessional jobs etc, seem to find it a lot easier to get out of jury service than others, and if I was on trial, I'd much prefer that the jury be as intelligent and as well educated as possible, so they would be more likely to make the correct decision.

The jury system is one of the ways which citizens can place restraints on the state and its representatives, for you to be too lazy to respond is pretty bad in my opinion. If you get a record, its your own damn fault.

Also, I wouldnt recomend lying to the court as to never recieving the summons etc, if you get found out, they will [censored] you over.

[BPA234]

If I were you, I would get a deecnt ciminal defense lawyer in the locale of the court. Yes, you shuld have responded to the jury duty summons. But, everyone makes mistakes especially when they're young. Now you need t do whatever you can to prevent this mistake from hounding you for the rest of your life.

Having a misdemeanor criminl record can/will cause issues for you later in life. Many job applications ask if you have ever been arrested/convcted for/of a crime. No distinction is made for felony or misdemeanor. Many employers follow-up with criminal back-ground checks and with the increased connectivity from state to state, you can no longer rely on geography to help shield a convction.

Bottom line, with no priors, legitimate claim that you were in NY and that you never received notice (my attorney told me that is the always the play-you did not receive the notice-he also told me to man up and perform the [censored] jury duty) you should be able to get the charge dropped or reduced to a non-criminal complaint.

[adios]

I'd take iron81's advice, get a lawyer and I think he has the cost about right. Lawyer will write your letter if he/she thinks that's a good idea. Probably can get you out as painlessly as possible if lawyer is competant. From my experiences with legal system, a lot of people think they can just explain things, everyone will believe them and then you can go on your merry way if they haven't dealt with the legal system previously. They're wrong most of the time IMO. At least consult with a lawyer, pay for an hours worth of time or so and see what they say.