Last week I received a letter from the 68th District Court Jury - Board stating that I had failed to report for jury duty. This came as a complete surprise as I had never received the first notice. The 2nd notice did not mince words and stated that failure to appear is "punishable by the circuit as contempt of court".
In the past 5 years I have received 2 notices for jury duty and have never failed to call in the night before, as directed, to see whether I had to report to the court the following day. To receive notice saying I had failed to report was definitely upsetting.
My mail is delivered late in the afternoon. So of course it was a Friday afternoon that the letter came and by that time, it was to late to call the Jury Board to see why was going on. Boy, I did I have a long weekend waiting until Monday morning arrived to make my call.
When I contacted the jury board on Monday, I was told that approximately 35 other people were in the same predicament. Apparently the 1st notices never got into the mail or were "lost in the mail". It was comforting to know I was not alone. I was told that another notice would be mailed specifying follow-up jury duty. I guess all's well that ends well! Just hope I receive the next notice in a timely manner.
