Monday, November 14, 2011

Sacramento Bee: Yolo County cracks down on citizens missing jury duty

Yolo County cracks down on jurors who don't show up

Published: Monday, Nov. 14, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 2B
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Yolo Superior Court officials are on a mission to increase juror turnout by cracking down on scofflaws who ignore repeated calls to jury duty.
"It's a very small percentage that just ignores us," said Presiding Judge David Rosenberg. "We thought it was unfair to those who do show up."

Following the lead of larger counties, the court started sending out notices in January threatening penalties for no-shows, he said.

On Thursday, Rosenberg took the bench in a first-of-its kind hearing for Yolo.

He called the names of 10 offenders facing fines and charges for failure to appear.

Only one man showed up.

Rosenberg called the man – Stanislav Olesenko of West Sacramento – before him and gave him a short civics lecture.

"We do have a system of justice in this country," the judge said. "It depends on people showing up for jury service."

"Think what you would want if you had a case in this courthouse," he told Olesenko.

Then Rosenberg gave the man a choice. He could either schedule a hearing to fight the two contempt charges against him or admit to one count and resolve it on the spot with no more than a $250 fine.

Olesenko chose to resolve it. Addressing the judge, he insisted he had returned a series of jury summonses and warnings with explanations of why he couldn't make it.

"I've never ignored any of the letters," he said. "I always sent it back."

Court officials said they hadn't received them.

Olesenko told the judge he felt his English skills were insufficient for jury service. In September, Olesenko said he missed a deadline to respond because his father had died.

The judge listened and then cut the man a break. He didn't fine him but sent him off with a court employee to sign up for future jury service.

Rosenberg ordered the nine others to be fined $250 apiece. Additional failures to appear can result in fines of $1,000 or more, he said.

After the hearing, court officials said the program of threats and warnings had significantly increased the turnout of potential jurors.

Executive Officer Jim Perry said the court used to send out 175 notices and have 60 or 70 people show up. Now 80 or 90 appear when summoned.

In the future, the court could save money by summoning fewer jurors, he said.

"It seems to be really paying off," Perry said.

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