Ditching jury duty can lead to charges, even time in jail

Question: I was called for jury duty and a number of people did not show up. The judge said something about issuing a bench warrant. What is this and what is the penalty for not reporting for jury duty? Is it different for state and federal courts?

Answer: A prospective juror who "willfully or without reasonable excuse" fails to appear in a state court after being summoned for jury duty may be arrested and charged with contempt of court, said state Judiciary spokeswoman Tammy Mori.

"The court is also authorized to issue a bench warrant to compel a person, after being selected as a juror, to appear," she said.

Jury duty is covered under Section 612-19 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

"A juror commits the offense of criminal contempt if he or she ‘intentionally and without permission of the court, fails to attend a trial or official proceeding to which the person has been summoned or at which the person has been chosen to serve,’" Mori said, citing Section 710-1077(i) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

"If a potential juror who failed to appear is brought before the court, after being arrested or self-reporting, a hearing/bench trial will take place and proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is required for conviction," she said.

Criminal contempt of court is considered an offense, which constitutes a violation punishable by a fine.

However, failure to appear in court may be treated as a petty misdemeanor under the criminal contempt statute, with a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail, Mori said. "But if the offense is upgraded to a misdemeanor, the penalty could include a maximum one year in jail."

No figures were available on the number of jury duty no-shows.

Since 2010, there have been 11 cases statewide that fell under the criminal contempt of court charge relating to court proceedings, Mori said. However, records don’t specify the exact charges.

There are 10 ways a person can be charged for contempt under Section 710-1077, including creating a disturbance to disrupt a court’s proceedings, pretending to be an attorney during a court proceeding, intentionally recording a jury’s deliberations, as well as failing to attend a trial.

On the federal level, jury duty is covered under Section 1866 of the 28 U.S. Code.

Section (g) covers what might happen to a person who fails to show up for jury duty, said Sue Beitia, Clerk of the Court for the U.S. District Court in Hawaii: "Any person who fails to show good cause for noncompliance with a summons may be fined not more than $1,000, imprisoned not more than three days, ordered to perform community service, or any combination thereof."

"The court does not keep separate statistics on anyone prosecuted under this statute," Beitia said.

Question: We live in upper Pearl City in the middle school area and never know when our mail will be delivered. One day, it came around 5:30 p.m. Most days, it comes between 4 and 5 p.m. When a substitute carrier does the delivery, we get our mail at a reasonable hour, before 2 p.m. It’s very frustrating! Can the Pearl City postmaster help us out?

Answer: You did not provide an address or contact information, so the Pearl City postmaster was not able to provide a definitive response regarding your delivery times, said Duke Gonzales, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Hawaii.

Instead, he explained that the agency is dealing with "the financial challenges resulting from the tremendous decline in mail volume" through "the active and flexible management of delivery routes."

Postmasters are encouraged to utilize a mix of full-time, part-time and overtime work hours to deliver mail to their customers.

"Consequently, it’s possible that a particular address could be served by a carrier using overtime hours one day and by a carrier using regular work hours another day, which could result in different times of delivery," Gonzales said.

He also said delivery routes are regularly reviewed and adjusted.

Write to "Kokua Line" at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.