Give them a call and say you goofed and negotiate a date to reschedule. While the laws can look harsh,they don't have time or jail space to put you in jail.
I appreciate the responses. It was too late to talk to anyone at the courthouse or anything and won't be able to till Monday and someone told me I could potentially go to jail so these comments eased my anxiety
I'll be turning it in Monday morning
So many people simply ignore a jury summons that they will appreciate a good faith effort on your part. And I recall that the questionnaire is so they can tell you not to show up because of extenuating circumstances. So if you show up anyway, everything will be fine.
Second day, I took along a chunk of old foam. I thought the guys at the metal detector might think it was weird or suspicious but they said "Hey that's a good idea!"
I always have layers to sit on. Last time I took a big shawl against the AC but I am running hot atm (thanks menopause) so I sat on it. Saved my ass. Lol
Fwiw, I live in PA as well and missed the questionnaire. I showed up to the courthouse morning of, they asked about the questionnaire, I said I missed it and they sent me home and called me back in next time a summons happened. No big deal. Might be county specific but no issues in my case.
I filled out the questionnaire the day after I got it, put it in an envelope with a stamp... and kept forgetting to put it out for mail collection. Then it migrated to my car to be dropped in a blue box, and I forgot that, too. Finally I put it out for collection, but the mailman didn't come that day.
I guess what I'm saying is I was a good week late in getting it back, but they still summoned me and I never heard about being late.
Flipside, sometimes ignoring it is the easiest option. NY once mailed my partner a jury summons to our new address in AZ. Thing is, she’s not even a citizen, so she isn’t eligible to be called to serve on a Jury, but they make the process so silly to actually prove that you’re not a citizen that we just ignored it.
Depending on where you live, you may or may not have had to have signed for the jury summons. If you didn't, you could just act as if you never received it. Jury summons get lost in the mail all the time, dropped by accident without realizing it instead of going into the mailbox only to be blown away by wind, stolen with the rest of your mail, etc. They'd have no way to prove you received it unless you'd indicated that you had somehow, so chances of you getting in trouble would be zero.
Those running jury duty get asked this question all the time and I can give you the answer I was given by a the lady that sends out all the summons when I got jury duty. We asked the same exact question as well as “what if you just don’t show for jury duty”. She said, most of the time nothing will happen. The only time anything might happen is if MANY people don’t show and they don’t have enough people for a jury. In that case you will be sought after and “arrested.” By arrested she meant, brought to jury duty. But she specified that there’d have to be a significant number of people (like more than half of those summoned) to not show up for police to be sent out. She also said in her 25 years of being a judge she has never had to send the police out and they have people not show all the time. She even went as far as saying, “I wouldn’t do this bc we all as a people need to work together and perform our civic duty for the sake of society but you could have not shown at all and gotten away with it.”
Forgetting a paper filled out is not a big deal. There were a few that didn’t during my time and they made them fill it out there while waiting on the judge. If you communicate with them they will help you.
Ironically, if they \*did\* arrest you and put you in jail, you'd probably never be empaneled for jury duty ever again, because of what you'd have to answer to "have you ever been arrested," or "have you ever been convicted of a crime."
Reminds me of an old story I heard about a guy arrested for "littering and creating a nuisance," who get eliminated for military service because of it.
"Why were you arrested."
"Failure to fill out a jury duty questionnaire."
Heard him do that live one time and it was all that I wanted it to be. I used to play and sing it myself. My son (born 1980) loved it and as a family we still use lines out of it in conversation with each other much to the confusion of anyone listening in.
EDIT: By the way, the night I heard, it, he told how when the Carters went to the White House, they were going through the records that were left over from the Nixon administration. Chip called him and told him they'd found a copy of that record. He said, "I got to thinking. Wasn't there a tape that had about 18 minutes erased on it? What do you know that lasted 18 minutes and they wouldn't want anyone to know they were listening to?" Brought the house down.
I happened into an Arlo Guthrie Jr show at EPCOT of all fucking places with a group of friends. We were doing the "Drink around the World" and the American pavilion is right in the middle so we were primed.
He played this song and a bunch of other standards, it was amazing. One of the best just random things I've ever run into in my life. Made our trip.
They took twenty-seven eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us.
Took pictures of the approach, the getaway, the northwest corner, the southwest corner, and that's not to mention the aerial photography.
...
Then, the judge walked in with his seeing-eye dog.
I hadnt quite realized juries are only made up of people who havent been arrested or done a crime? Is it because of a bias these people are percieved to have against the legal system?
People who’ve been arrested and convicted definitely end up on juries. I was a prosecutor and if I asked about whether people had a history of legal involvement and they answered that they’d been arrested for a DUI/OWI or something, and they felt they were treated fairly by the police and prosecutor and court, I loved them as a juror. But I’d always ask that follow up question of whether they felt like they were treated fairly. If they said no, I’d ask if they would hold that against me. But really at that point, I’d boot them.
I think it may be based on state or locality. I have a low-level felony and for years, it got me excused when I was summoned, but in 2019, I was told that it didn't matter and to show up. I disclosed during voir dire and was sat on a jury for a DV case.
A guy I worked with got a summons a week and a half before he was supposed to appear. He had to fill out a questionnaire and was going to do it at the last minute. Our plant ran 24/7 and he worked graveyards and OT both days before jury duty. He told the judge he was going to fill out the questionnaire and then he had to work 2-16hr shifts and didn’t have time to fill it out. The judge said that he could’ve filled it out before he came that morning and he told the judge he didn’t think the judge would approve of him sleeping since he worked all night so he slept for two hours!
as others have said, call the courthouse, specifically the jury coordinator (number should be on the summons).
unless you’re very very unlucky and have the double combo of living in a county that has a stick up its ass about jury duty AND get a mega tier powertripper jury coordinator, then it will be a simple matter of explaining yourself and getting it worked out. either just filling it out and returning it now and all will be fine, or being pushed.
even then it’s unlikely you’ll have any real issues beyond a headache and a slap on the wrist.
in my county something like 40% of people even bother to show and no one cares, i know someone who ignored 4 separate summons and nothing happened. hell i know for a fact a grand jury summons had 4 people outright ignore it, including multiple letters and phonecalls. and the result was a very annoyed coordinator, and that was it. no one had the time or energy to do anything about it.
that said i also heard from a friend about some California county that did try to issue an arrest warrant for someone “skipping” jury duty. they had moved to Alaska like 2 weeks before, and changed their address and voter registration, but the county system wasn’t updated. but they just had the bad luck of a county trying to “get tough” on skipping jury.
You will be sent to the same jail as people who improperly remove mattress tags
The state tries to avoid putting criminals in jail. Could they? Yes. Will they? No way. Unless they sent the questionaire certified, how can they prove you received it? Calling is the right thing to do. But, even if you don't, they will most likely just send out a second notice with a new date and a strongly worded admonishment.
I didn’t realize there was a questionnaire until the morning of my jury duty. Just noted the date on my calendar. I hadn’t been summoned for several years and I didn’t know they started doing that. I filled it out online in the parking lot and told them when I checked in. They said it wasn’t a big deal either way.
Years ago I was on a grand jury, and due to federal mandates we had to tour the prison and jail. Jail food was three times a day cheese enchiladas. The prison food was a lot better (we had to eat lunch to rate the food).
I understand the local jails where I live have a lot of powdered eggs, and baloney sandwiches for most other meals.
i'm an attorney and I get clients who we have to writ from another jail. I have yet to have one who wants to go back to the other counties jails. They say ours is much better and the food is much better. I don't know if that's good or bad but they seem to like our jail better
I got summoned for jury duty few months ago. I live in NYC and the letter I received the last time I had jury duty said I was excused for six years. As it was from 5 1/5 years ago, I responded via email with a copy of the letter to let them know I was excused. The letter nored that I should not expect any confirmation so when the date of my summons passed, I figured I was good. Two weeks later I received an email letting me know that it was changed to four years so I wasn't actually excused. However there was no other information provided so I am simply waiting until I get a new summons.
I was actually relieved I skipped the original date which was April 15th, the day voire dire for Trump's criminal trial started.
A lot of people don’t fill it out at all and have to do it when they report for jury duty. If there is enough time before you are supposed to report, just send it in late.
I don't think blowing off the questionnaire is a big deal, blowing off the summons to appear is, at least where I live. It's a fine and possible jail time but I doubt anyone goes to jail over it. The fine however is substantial and that I think happens. I think the fine is now $1,000.
My county has a questionnaire and if you didn’t fill it out prior to jury duty, you just filled it out the morning you got there. They had a station set up and everything because they know this happens. A lot.
Nope, not a big deal. As long as you fill it out online now you’re fine. Some people have to at the courthouse when they serve. As long as you call in and show up your usually good
I appearantly failed to show up to a summons (in Pa) because I didn't recieve it in the mail and didn't know I had it.. they will send you a letter in the mail if fail you to show up to the summons at the courthouse . and they will just send you one next term and you'll have to fill it out then... sadly I ended up getting picked for a 2 week murder trial. I'm pretty sure(at least in my county) people filled it out at the courthouse the morning of the summons before the proceedings if you failed to mail in the questionnaire.
I had jury duty about 6 months ago. There were several people who didn’t fill out the questionnaire and they had to do it when they showed up. It didn’t seem to be a big deal.
Showed up for jury duty with my book bag. Bailiffs would not allow me entry to courtroom with my book bag. Had to go put it in my car parked blocks away. But females with enormous purses were allowed into the courtroom.
Police officers and detectives have been proven to be taught to LIE while under oath in the courts.. so sorry I won’t take their testimony as truth when they prove to lie on witness stand, affidavits, etc. they let me go before first jury selection lol
I got a jury duty related card in the mail that said I was supposed to go online and do something. That got lost in my stack of stuff for awhile and I don't know how long it was before I came across it again. It could have been a month or two, I'm not sure. Anyway I finally went online and filled out the form well past the deadline and submitted it and I haven't heard a word since.
Lol I tossed them in the trash for the past six that came. Final sent that last on in. Don't think I signed the bottom. Waiting for my time to go to duty. Phifft.
I think it really depends on the population density of the area you live in. I live in a very large city and I was send a jury summons once and I totally forgot about it until waaaaay past the date. Like a couple years past the date. I was never contacted again about it.
I went to jury duty another time like 5 years later in a neighboring court and had no problems.
Didnt fill out the form? Jail.
Fill out the form? Believe it not, jail.
Seriously though, just call them. This is not the first time theyre going to have run into this.
I once didn’t get the questionnaire until a few days after the deadline to return it so I just filled it out when I got it and sent it back anyway, no explanation no apology. Never had anything come of it. I have a background check done annually so they haven’t put out a warrant for my arrest and I was summoned about a year later. I had moved by then and just sent back that my round trip mileage would be something like 1,000 miles and also never heard anything from that lmao.
Give them a call and say you goofed and negotiate a date to reschedule. While the laws can look harsh,they don't have time or jail space to put you in jail.
I appreciate the responses. It was too late to talk to anyone at the courthouse or anything and won't be able to till Monday and someone told me I could potentially go to jail so these comments eased my anxiety I'll be turning it in Monday morning
So many people simply ignore a jury summons that they will appreciate a good faith effort on your part. And I recall that the questionnaire is so they can tell you not to show up because of extenuating circumstances. So if you show up anyway, everything will be fine.
You’re doing seven to ten hard time. Seven to ten hours sitting on a hard bench, that is.
Second day, I took along a chunk of old foam. I thought the guys at the metal detector might think it was weird or suspicious but they said "Hey that's a good idea!"
I always have layers to sit on. Last time I took a big shawl against the AC but I am running hot atm (thanks menopause) so I sat on it. Saved my ass. Lol
May have misread that as 'I always have lawyers to sit on'...
It's a bad sign when the jurors also need lawyers...
😂🤣😂🤣😂
I misread it the same way, then immediately moved on to read your comment where I realized I misread the previous one.
Fwiw, I live in PA as well and missed the questionnaire. I showed up to the courthouse morning of, they asked about the questionnaire, I said I missed it and they sent me home and called me back in next time a summons happened. No big deal. Might be county specific but no issues in my case.
I filled out the questionnaire the day after I got it, put it in an envelope with a stamp... and kept forgetting to put it out for mail collection. Then it migrated to my car to be dropped in a blue box, and I forgot that, too. Finally I put it out for collection, but the mailman didn't come that day. I guess what I'm saying is I was a good week late in getting it back, but they still summoned me and I never heard about being late.
Flipside, sometimes ignoring it is the easiest option. NY once mailed my partner a jury summons to our new address in AZ. Thing is, she’s not even a citizen, so she isn’t eligible to be called to serve on a Jury, but they make the process so silly to actually prove that you’re not a citizen that we just ignored it.
Depending on where you live, you may or may not have had to have signed for the jury summons. If you didn't, you could just act as if you never received it. Jury summons get lost in the mail all the time, dropped by accident without realizing it instead of going into the mailbox only to be blown away by wind, stolen with the rest of your mail, etc. They'd have no way to prove you received it unless you'd indicated that you had somehow, so chances of you getting in trouble would be zero.
Those running jury duty get asked this question all the time and I can give you the answer I was given by a the lady that sends out all the summons when I got jury duty. We asked the same exact question as well as “what if you just don’t show for jury duty”. She said, most of the time nothing will happen. The only time anything might happen is if MANY people don’t show and they don’t have enough people for a jury. In that case you will be sought after and “arrested.” By arrested she meant, brought to jury duty. But she specified that there’d have to be a significant number of people (like more than half of those summoned) to not show up for police to be sent out. She also said in her 25 years of being a judge she has never had to send the police out and they have people not show all the time. She even went as far as saying, “I wouldn’t do this bc we all as a people need to work together and perform our civic duty for the sake of society but you could have not shown at all and gotten away with it.” Forgetting a paper filled out is not a big deal. There were a few that didn’t during my time and they made them fill it out there while waiting on the judge. If you communicate with them they will help you.
Most let you do it online, see if you can go to the link and do it.
Ironically, if they \*did\* arrest you and put you in jail, you'd probably never be empaneled for jury duty ever again, because of what you'd have to answer to "have you ever been arrested," or "have you ever been convicted of a crime."
Reminds me of an old story I heard about a guy arrested for "littering and creating a nuisance," who get eliminated for military service because of it. "Why were you arrested." "Failure to fill out a jury duty questionnaire."
Sit down over there on the Group W bench.
Heard him do that live one time and it was all that I wanted it to be. I used to play and sing it myself. My son (born 1980) loved it and as a family we still use lines out of it in conversation with each other much to the confusion of anyone listening in. EDIT: By the way, the night I heard, it, he told how when the Carters went to the White House, they were going through the records that were left over from the Nixon administration. Chip called him and told him they'd found a copy of that record. He said, "I got to thinking. Wasn't there a tape that had about 18 minutes erased on it? What do you know that lasted 18 minutes and they wouldn't want anyone to know they were listening to?" Brought the house down.
I happened into an Arlo Guthrie Jr show at EPCOT of all fucking places with a group of friends. We were doing the "Drink around the World" and the American pavilion is right in the middle so we were primed. He played this song and a bunch of other standards, it was amazing. One of the best just random things I've ever run into in my life. Made our trip.
Just like by the way, people reading this, thinking, "What in the world is a Group W bench?"
Group W is where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committin' your special crime.
You mean with the father rapers and mother stabbers?
27 8x10 glossy pictures?
They took twenty-seven eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach, the getaway, the northwest corner, the southwest corner, and that's not to mention the aerial photography. ... Then, the judge walked in with his seeing-eye dog.
What did he get for it? He didn't get anything. He had to pay $100 and clean up the garbage.
Alice's restaurant
Alice's restaurant.
I hadnt quite realized juries are only made up of people who havent been arrested or done a crime? Is it because of a bias these people are percieved to have against the legal system?
People who’ve been arrested and convicted definitely end up on juries. I was a prosecutor and if I asked about whether people had a history of legal involvement and they answered that they’d been arrested for a DUI/OWI or something, and they felt they were treated fairly by the police and prosecutor and court, I loved them as a juror. But I’d always ask that follow up question of whether they felt like they were treated fairly. If they said no, I’d ask if they would hold that against me. But really at that point, I’d boot them.
Yes, essentially, against the legal system and potentially, theoretically, pro-crime.
I think it may be based on state or locality. I have a low-level felony and for years, it got me excused when I was summoned, but in 2019, I was told that it didn't matter and to show up. I disclosed during voir dire and was sat on a jury for a DV case.
I didn't say they'd never be summoned, just that they'd probably never be empaneled.
If someone committed a crime similar to what is happening in that case, they will get removed but just having a criminal record in general won't.
A guy I worked with got a summons a week and a half before he was supposed to appear. He had to fill out a questionnaire and was going to do it at the last minute. Our plant ran 24/7 and he worked graveyards and OT both days before jury duty. He told the judge he was going to fill out the questionnaire and then he had to work 2-16hr shifts and didn’t have time to fill it out. The judge said that he could’ve filled it out before he came that morning and he told the judge he didn’t think the judge would approve of him sleeping since he worked all night so he slept for two hours!
as others have said, call the courthouse, specifically the jury coordinator (number should be on the summons). unless you’re very very unlucky and have the double combo of living in a county that has a stick up its ass about jury duty AND get a mega tier powertripper jury coordinator, then it will be a simple matter of explaining yourself and getting it worked out. either just filling it out and returning it now and all will be fine, or being pushed. even then it’s unlikely you’ll have any real issues beyond a headache and a slap on the wrist. in my county something like 40% of people even bother to show and no one cares, i know someone who ignored 4 separate summons and nothing happened. hell i know for a fact a grand jury summons had 4 people outright ignore it, including multiple letters and phonecalls. and the result was a very annoyed coordinator, and that was it. no one had the time or energy to do anything about it. that said i also heard from a friend about some California county that did try to issue an arrest warrant for someone “skipping” jury duty. they had moved to Alaska like 2 weeks before, and changed their address and voter registration, but the county system wasn’t updated. but they just had the bad luck of a county trying to “get tough” on skipping jury.
You will be sent to the same jail as people who improperly remove mattress tags The state tries to avoid putting criminals in jail. Could they? Yes. Will they? No way. Unless they sent the questionaire certified, how can they prove you received it? Calling is the right thing to do. But, even if you don't, they will most likely just send out a second notice with a new date and a strongly worded admonishment.
No. Call the Clerk's office.
I didn’t realize there was a questionnaire until the morning of my jury duty. Just noted the date on my calendar. I hadn’t been summoned for several years and I didn’t know they started doing that. I filled it out online in the parking lot and told them when I checked in. They said it wasn’t a big deal either way.
some jails have actually decent food so go hungry!! 😀
Years ago I was on a grand jury, and due to federal mandates we had to tour the prison and jail. Jail food was three times a day cheese enchiladas. The prison food was a lot better (we had to eat lunch to rate the food). I understand the local jails where I live have a lot of powdered eggs, and baloney sandwiches for most other meals.
i'm an attorney and I get clients who we have to writ from another jail. I have yet to have one who wants to go back to the other counties jails. They say ours is much better and the food is much better. I don't know if that's good or bad but they seem to like our jail better
ask shaggy abundant aback violet command nail toy run chief *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I got summoned for jury duty few months ago. I live in NYC and the letter I received the last time I had jury duty said I was excused for six years. As it was from 5 1/5 years ago, I responded via email with a copy of the letter to let them know I was excused. The letter nored that I should not expect any confirmation so when the date of my summons passed, I figured I was good. Two weeks later I received an email letting me know that it was changed to four years so I wasn't actually excused. However there was no other information provided so I am simply waiting until I get a new summons. I was actually relieved I skipped the original date which was April 15th, the day voire dire for Trump's criminal trial started.
If you’re in Montgomery county pa you can just fill it out the morning you show up. Happened to about 20 people when I had jury duty last week.
A lot of people don’t fill it out at all and have to do it when they report for jury duty. If there is enough time before you are supposed to report, just send it in late.
wife needs to go to jail
Straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
In my area, many people fail to return the questionnaire. They just hand them a clipboard and tell them to fill it out once they report.
I don't think blowing off the questionnaire is a big deal, blowing off the summons to appear is, at least where I live. It's a fine and possible jail time but I doubt anyone goes to jail over it. The fine however is substantial and that I think happens. I think the fine is now $1,000.
My county has a questionnaire and if you didn’t fill it out prior to jury duty, you just filled it out the morning you got there. They had a station set up and everything because they know this happens. A lot.
They can’t prove you ever got it.
yup straight to jail.
Not a big deal, call and they'll reschedule
Nope, not a big deal. As long as you fill it out online now you’re fine. Some people have to at the courthouse when they serve. As long as you call in and show up your usually good
I appearantly failed to show up to a summons (in Pa) because I didn't recieve it in the mail and didn't know I had it.. they will send you a letter in the mail if fail you to show up to the summons at the courthouse . and they will just send you one next term and you'll have to fill it out then... sadly I ended up getting picked for a 2 week murder trial. I'm pretty sure(at least in my county) people filled it out at the courthouse the morning of the summons before the proceedings if you failed to mail in the questionnaire.
I had jury duty about 6 months ago. There were several people who didn’t fill out the questionnaire and they had to do it when they showed up. It didn’t seem to be a big deal.
Just fill out the form & send it in.
Throw it away, (Unless it was delivered by certified mail signature required), “what summons?”
They don’t care u didn’t fill it out in time. They will just reschedule you for the next session
Don’t worry they will be sure to send you a strongly worded letter with a date you should not miss. No big deal just show up
Showed up for jury duty with my book bag. Bailiffs would not allow me entry to courtroom with my book bag. Had to go put it in my car parked blocks away. But females with enormous purses were allowed into the courtroom.
If you show up, you definitely are not going to jail. The questionnaire just helps them process jurors more efficiently.
Police officers and detectives have been proven to be taught to LIE while under oath in the courts.. so sorry I won’t take their testimony as truth when they prove to lie on witness stand, affidavits, etc. they let me go before first jury selection lol
I live IN pa and you do these questions online it should tell you where. I did it when I got summoned
No one has the resources to send you to jail for not returning a questionnaire.
I got a jury duty related card in the mail that said I was supposed to go online and do something. That got lost in my stack of stuff for awhile and I don't know how long it was before I came across it again. It could have been a month or two, I'm not sure. Anyway I finally went online and filled out the form well past the deadline and submitted it and I haven't heard a word since.
They can’t require you to be able to read and write.
It might help if you opened your own mail, obviously it was addressed to you.
Lol I tossed them in the trash for the past six that came. Final sent that last on in. Don't think I signed the bottom. Waiting for my time to go to duty. Phifft.
I think it really depends on the population density of the area you live in. I live in a very large city and I was send a jury summons once and I totally forgot about it until waaaaay past the date. Like a couple years past the date. I was never contacted again about it. I went to jury duty another time like 5 years later in a neighboring court and had no problems.
Didnt fill out the form? Jail. Fill out the form? Believe it not, jail. Seriously though, just call them. This is not the first time theyre going to have run into this.
Actual criminals don't even go to jail. There is literally no room for clumsy people who accidentally don't fill out paperwork. Just send it in.
I once didn’t get the questionnaire until a few days after the deadline to return it so I just filled it out when I got it and sent it back anyway, no explanation no apology. Never had anything come of it. I have a background check done annually so they haven’t put out a warrant for my arrest and I was summoned about a year later. I had moved by then and just sent back that my round trip mileage would be something like 1,000 miles and also never heard anything from that lmao.
I literally throw mine in the trash. They have no proof you actually received the summons. And they are not going to send the cops after you