On Thursday, February 16th, District Judge, Scott Say held the last show cause hearing for potential jurors who failed to appear for jury duty on January 18th. Of the 33 people who were sent notices to appear and show cause why they should not be fined, 21 of them appeared and discussed their reasons for non-attendance. Judge Say told the Leader-News that there were six people who corrected their drivers license or voter registration addresses and one juror who voluntarily paid their fine. There were also 14 jurors who claimed age, student or medical exemptions and provided documentation to the Court – those 14 were either removed from the jury wheel, excused or given deferments to serve at a later date. Judge Say said, “I think that the word has gotten out that just skipping jury duty is a bad idea and that people are starting to understand how important it is to not just ignore a jury summons. I also want to thank the citizens who responded to their letters from the Court or the notice in the Leader-News. Hopefully, the Court won’t have to continue to issue fines and hold hearings to hear exemptions and legitimate excuses going forward.” Judge Say also advised that the remaining 12 jurors who did not respond to the show cause letters will soon be receiving their last warning letter. Those that fail to respond will have capias warrants issued for their arrest and will face potentially higher fines or jail time.
The 12 jurors who failed to re- spond are as follows: Juan Alfaro, Alejandra Montejano-Manriquez, Beverly Stinson, Louise Aliar, Issac Garcia, Jessica Morgan, Christopher Soliz, Daniel Ablino Hernandez, Cesilia Tovar, Maria Garza, Ashley Jones and Eugene Trevino. Judge Say went on to say, “I sincerely don’t want to get to the point of sending people to jail, but I am serious about citizens doing their civic duty. I also suspect that many, if not all, of the people listed have not updated their address information.” The Judge wants to encourage our readers to reach out to these people and let them know that they need to contact the Court or the District Clerk’s Office as soon as possible in order to avoid an unnecessary visit from the Sheriff. Judge Say also said, “I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for people to keep their driver’s license and voter registration addresses current and how easy it is to claim an exemption by mail on the back of their jury summons. It’s really a simple process that will save a lot of headaches, trips to the courthouse and potential fines.” The next jury pool will convene on Tuesday, February 21st at 9:00 a.m.