TexasCHLforum.com

first, hope y'all get some good news soon...

anyhoo....I had a CHL years back (let it expire '05...yeah I know....D-UH), but now that I'm back in the pipeline (waiting on the powers that be in Austin)....I'm getting that kid before Christmas feeling...

here's the question.....

I just found I missed a jury summons here in Pasadena within the last month (holiday season, go figure)....that won't have an adverse ripple in my application process will it ???

No. Failing to show up for jury duty is not a criminal offense. Usually if you just call and apologize, they tell you not to do that again.

I don't know if they will put you on the list for the next set of juror candidates.

- Jim

Per Sec. 62.0141. FAILURE TO ANSWER JURY SUMMONS. In addition
to any criminal penalty prescribed by law, a person summoned for
jury service who does not comply with the summons as required by law
or who knowingly provides false information in a request for an
exemption or to be excused from jury service is subject to a
contempt action punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more
than $1,000.

IANAL, but if it is only a contempt charge punishable by a fine, then I would not think it was a Class B or higher, so I would think it shouldn't affect it. I would, however, immediately contact the court clerk (if you haven't already) to advise you just found it, apologize and advise you want to get rescheduled ASAP to fulfill your duties. Hopefully they will be nice and not charge you with Failure to Answer and you won't get fined.

Let us know how it turns out.

EDIT TO ADD: Jim beat me to it.

I've actually looked into whether or not you can sign up for jury duty. Apparently in TX you cannot. I guess the reason being if you're on trial you could get all your buddies to flood the application process.

Contempt is an unusual type of judicial action. It's neither a criminal nor civil action. Since it's not a crime, it can't affect your eligibility for a CHL.

i've never heard of anyone being fined simply because they ignored a summons. So many people ignore summonses that the courts can't keep up with them, especially in a place like Harris County (which I'm guessing is the case here).

- Jim

atxgun wrote:I've actually looked into whether or not you can sign up for jury duty. Apparently in TX you cannot.

There are federal laws and court rulings that require juries to be made up of a randomly selected cross-section of the community.

If people could sign up for jury duty, you'd get a certain number of cranks and people with an ax to grind.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:....If people could sign up for jury duty, you'd get a certain number of cranks and people with an ax to grind.

- Jim

Kinda like Internet Forums!!!

(Edited to add: Present forum excluded. )

although, grinding axes would give us something to do to whittle away the hours in wait for the powers that be LOL

said it Knightx, my axe is now a Razor blade

I missed one years ago, but my excuse would have been I was at a duty station in Colorado. Hopefully that would have been a good enough excuse.