N.J. court found barking up the wrong tree

CALL HIM juror K-9.

A computer glitch is likely to blame for a summons that called a German shepherd to report for jury duty, court officials in New Jersey's Cumberland County said.

Barrett Griner IV, of Bridgeton, said he recently opened a jury summons addressed to "IV Griner," the name of his 5-year-old dog.

"It was just funny," he said. "I got mail for my dog."

The court did not actually request that a dog serve on a jury, said Mark Sprock, the local trial court administrator.

He said a computer probably misread Griner's numerical suffix IV as his first name.

"It probably picked up that IV, which is usually after his name, from one of the databases and put it into his first name slot in the jury system," Sprock said.

Typically, someone getting such an erroneous jury summons can call the court offices and the error will be fixed, he said.

Griner, 40, who works as a treatment plant operator at the local water department, said he hasn't yet made that call.

"I hope that the judge finds it kind of humorous," he said. "That's all I need is to have the local county and judge think I'm making a mockery of his courtroom."