Dodging jury duty in Phila. could get people fined or jailed

PHILADELPHIA Last year, nearly 600,000 Philadelphians were summoned for jury duty. More than a third never responded.

Beginning this spring, those who dodge jury duty could get a new kind of summons: to Scofflaw Court, where they could be held in contempt of court, fined as much as $500, and sentenced to up to 10 days in jail.

"It's just not fair," said Philadelphia jury commissioner Daniel A. Rendine. "One of our goals is to provide a fair cross-section of jurors. If 37 percent are ignoring us, that means that 63 percent of the people are doing 100 percent of the work."

The Philadelphia court system's need for jurors has expanded in the last two years, in part because the state Supreme Court decided in 2012 to revive the use of indicting grand juries to charge individuals criminally.

Although the Supreme Court let prosecutors in all 67 counties use indicting grand juries, the decision was designed to help Philadelphia prosecutors counter a pervasive problem of victim and witness intimidation.

Because grand juries operate in secret, victims' and witnesses' testimony can be kept out of the public eye until prosecutors release information to a defense lawyer 60 days before trial.

Criminal trials require 12 jurors and, usually, up to four alternates. Civil trial juries usually have eight members.

Now, Rendine said, each of two indicting grand juries impaneled annually require pools of 400 prospects from which a 38-member panel is picked. Service on a grand jury is for six months.

Summoned randomly from rolls of registered voters and adult licensed drivers, Common Pleas Court jurors earn $9 a day for the first three days of jury service and $25 a day afterward.

Those who report and serve one or two days are exempt from further jury service for a year; three or more days of service brings a three-year exemption.

Rendine said Common Pleas Court Administrative Judge John W. Herron had already moved to extend the utility of prospective jurors by reducing the size of panels from which trial juries are selected.

As of March 3, Rendine said, the jury panels for noncapital homicide trials went from 60 to 50, felony panels from 50 to 40, and civil trial panels from 40 to 30.

Jurors not selected for a criminal trial spend the rest of their day being considered for civil juries.

"We have a juror utilization rate of 113 percent in this jurisdiction," Rendine said.

In addition to the administrative problems scofflaws cause, $100,000 - out of a budget of just $1.6 million - is wasted in postage and related costs dealing with them, Rendine said.

A court for AWOL jurors was Herron's idea. It revives a court he tried with success in 2000 and 2001.

Rendine said the new court would meet four times a year; 200 people who have ignored multiple summonses for jury service will be randomly subpoenaed to appear before Herron at each session.

"It's not something we want to do," Rendine said. "As Judge Herron said, this is a last-ditch effort."

Lynn Marks, executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, said the problem of scofflaw jurors was complicated and caused in part by a pay rate that has not changed in years - despite annual lobbying by her and other court reformers.

Marks said she was a little uncomfortable punishing people who dodge their civic duty. But Rendine's office has "really done everything they can to accommodate people," she said.

"The message we're trying to send is that when people receive a summons for jury duty, they shouldn't just throw it in the trash," Marks said. "Jury service is one of the few responsibilities citizens have."

215-854-2985 @joeslobo