District Court faces jury dodger problem

A Hill County courthouse official says jury dodgers have progressively increased in the last few years.

The trend of people not responding to jury duty summonses, as far as she's seen, started around 2014 and has "continuously gotten worse," Hill County District Clerk of Court Kathie Vigliotti said.

Like other clerks in Montana, Vigliotti said she pulls an extra 10 to 20 jurors to make up for the anticipated number who will not respond.

The most common excuses people give for not showing up, Vigliotti said, are they forgot, they never received a summons, they moved or they were out of town when the summons arrived.

When jurors are a no show, they are mailed a letter from the judge's judicial administration asking them to respond by a certain date as to why they didn't appear for jury duty. Most no shows are excused by the judge, but some people have been fined in the past because their excuse was not valid or they failed to respond as the letter stated, Vigliotti said. Fines can range from $50 to $250.

In her 25 years as clerk of court, Vigliotti said she estimates jury trials have been postponed about three times because there were not enough jurors to go on with the trial.

Hill County jurors are paid $12 to come in and receive $25 per day if they serve. Jurors also receive mileage pay if they drive more than 10 miles to get to the courthouse.

Common complaints from people about jury duty include the pay is too low or they have to work.

"Work is not an excuse. We all work," Vigliotti said, adding that citizens have a civic duty to show up and serve.

There are an average of nine jury trials in District Court during the course of a year.         

The jury terms run July 1 of each year to June 30 of the following year. Vigliotti said that for 2017-2018 1,600 notices were sent to jurors in May. Since July 1, there have been 26 no shows, seven of them people who failed to show up for a jury trial that began Oct. 24.

"We are actively seeking questionnaires back from 240 jurors who have not returned the required documentation," Vigliotti said.

Vigliotti said that during the 2013-14 jury term, there were nine total trials with 25 total no shows; there were 10 trials and 49 total no shows during the 2014-15 term; eight trials and 47 no shows during 2015-16 term; and seven total trials and 39 no shows during the 2016-17 term.

Montana law says potential jurors must be 18 years old, a United States citizen and be living in the city, county or state they are asked to serve for at least 30 days.

For potential jurors who want or need to get out of jury duty, there is a process, Vigliotti said. Once summoned, the only person who can excuse someone is the judge. They are given very specific instructions on how to be excused when they are summoned. They need to come in to the clerk of court as soon as possible and fill out a request for excusal. The form is also available on the county courthouse website.

Once the judge looks at the form, he either excuses them or not. Then they are called and informed of the judge's decision.

"If he feels they do not have a valid reason for being excused, he does not excuse them," Vigliotti said.

Courts all over Montana have been having juror problems, and some have made headlines for the way some judges are dealing with the problem.

A July Independent Record article with the headline "Officers ordered to bring in missing Helena jurors, by force if necessary" reports that District Judge Michael McMahon ordered local authorities to track down 22 people who failed to report for jury duty in Helena, "and to bring them in by force if necessary."

The officers made contact with six of the 22 people who were summoned, and all of them agreed to report for duty, the Record reported.

A July 2014 Associated Press with the headline "Montana judge calls out jury duty absconders" reports a Sanders County judge ordered 12 no shows to appear before him and explain why they shouldn't be held in contempt.

"We had all the people assembled for the trial, including one witness who had traveled from the East Coast, and we almost didn't get to trial," District Judge James Manley said in the article.

Of the seven he met with, he found four in contempt.

"I think most of us who have worked in the legal system for decades believe it's the fairest system there is, but it only works if people take their responsibility seriously," the article reported Manley said. "That's why I got on my high horse and said some things."

KTVM reported August 2014 that Gallatin County District Judge John Brown grilled 14 people for not showing up to jury duty. All had to explain why they didn't show up as summoned.

Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert said, KTVM reported, that it is unusual for a judge to take time to summon no-show jurors.

"Obviously, if one of the district judges goes to, has to take that, his or her time to do that, there's a problem," said Lambert.   

Lambert said it is important that summoned jurors show up for a jury trial. They are the ones that ultimately decide whether someone is innocent or guilty and if enough jurors fail to appear, it could force the trial to be delayed, KTVM reported.