You can’t dodge jury service in my court
Judge wants 29 no-show jurors to be prosecuted
A JUDGE has ordered the courts to prosecute members of the public who failed to turn up for jury duty.
Judge John Aylmer made his order after 29 people failed to turn up to be selected for what was a two-day trial at Letterkenny Courthouse in Co. Donegal.
Of the 49 people called to serve on the jury on Wednesday, a total of 29 potential jurors whose names were called out were not present in court for selection.
Judge Aylmer told Letterkenny Circuit Court there was a very poor attendance.
A jury was eventually selected and the trial did go ahead.
However, those who did not turn up for service can now expect to receive a summons in the post.
Judge Aylmer told the court yesterday he had directed the county registrar to issue summonses to anyone who failed to turn up without offering a reasonable excuse.
Earlier this year gardaí and the Courts Service said they were planning a major crackdown on people who skip jury duty.
They warned that prosecutions would follow for those who fail to show up for jury duty when told.
A change in legislation in 2008 increased the fine for failing to comply with an order to attend for jury service. The penalty rose from €50 from €500.
The Courts Service spokesman said that the numbers prosecuted and fined under this law currently were very small.
Judge Aylmer is the second to sharply criticise members of the public who fail to show up for jury service.
In March 2012 Clonmel Circuit Court was left with just four jurors despite 100 people being called.
Judge Leonie Reynolds said those who had failed to show up risk prosecution.
She said at the time: ‘If the jurors don’t answer their summonses, the business of the court can’t proceed.
‘The difficulty that the court is going to face next week is that, if people don’t appear in sufficient numbers, I’ll have no choice but to hand those numbers over to the DPP and people will have to be prosecuted for failing to attend.’
Potential jurors are sourced the Dáil electoral register of citizens aged 18 and over.
Approximately 100,000 people a year are called for jury service across the county.
Of these, one third are automatically excused because of their profession bars them from sitting on a jury.
Solicitors, gardaí, judges past and present, court officials, members of the defence forces and the President are ineligible for jury service.
In addition practising doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, vets and chemists are excluded.
A further third are excused by the judge or the country registrar for legitimate excuses such as illness or connections to a defendant or witness in a trial.
According to the Juries Act: ‘Any person who, having been duly summoned as a juror, fails without reasonable excuse to attend in compliance with the summons or to attend on any day when required by the court shall be guilty of an offence.’
In 2011, just 35 out of 250 jurors showed up for duty at a sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court at Ennis, Co. Clare.
Judge Reynolds, who was also presiding at the Ennis hearing, warned: ‘The word needs to go out that people must answer their jury summons.’
A spokesman for the Courts Service told the Irish Daily Mail that there was no overall figure available for the number of people who failed to show up to carry out jury duty this year.