LAKE COUNTY — California law says a person should only be served with one jury summons per year. But theory is far from practice, according to Lake County resident John Everett.
“I was in a meeting … with the Lake County Association of Realtors, and everybody in there said they average one to two a year,” said Everett. He is a Realtor working out of the REMAX affiliate in Lakeport, and in his business, appointments are everything.
Everett wrote a letter to the Lake County Jury Commissioner Wednesday morning after 12 years of frustration. The letter is forwarded to the county Board of Supervisors, Congressman Mike Thompson, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr. and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In it, he states that in his 12 years living in Lake County, he”s received 26 jury notices. In that time, he”s served on one jury.
Everett said in an afternoon interview with the Record-Bee that he doesn”t have any problem doing his civic duty. He just wishes it weren”t so frequent. “Why should they call me seven or eight times before they use me? If they call you every two years and use you it wouldn”t be so bad,” he said, adding, “We either have way too many cases or the Lake County jury commissioner is calling way too many people.”
Comparing his experience in Lake County to his 50 years in Marin County, Everett said he received exactly 25 more in his 12 years here than he did in Marin.
Filling in for the jury commissioner while she is temporarily away, Judicial Assistant Dianna Hendrick at the office of the Lake County Superior Courts said who gets a summons and when is decided randomly by a computer.
When asked why a person might get that many jury summons, Hendrick said there are a number of reasons.
One reason is duplication. Since the court”s computer is downloaded with lists of names from the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Registrar of Voters office, if a person”s name or address is even slightly different between the two lists it may be counted twice.
“The computer is looking for exact matches,” said Hendrick. Even a middle initial on one list and a middle name spelled out on another can cause duplication, she said. Multiple addresses and P.O. boxes are also culprits. Hendrick added that the best thing to do is to call the Superior Court office if you feel you are getting too many summonses at 263-2233, or toll free at 866-838-9172.
She explained that recipients are asked to call the night before the date on their jury summons to see if they need to appear at the courthouse the next day. If they do appear, their service is completed for the year whether or not they are selected for a jury.
It is in the event that a person is told they do not need to appear for their service date that things get complicated.
“Their name goes right back into the computer to be randomly selected again,” said Hendrick. “As far as I know there”s no control over it. It could be two months or two years before they get called again. A lot of people think, I was excused; I”m good for a year,” but it doesn”t work that way.”
Hendrick checked the computer and reported that it appeared Everett had been excused several times by phone, meaning he would continue to be called over and over until his group was asked to appear.
Aggravating the problem is Lake County”s relatively small population, said Hendrick. “A metropolitan area has thousands and thousands of names to pull from, and Lake County”s population is just not that big.” She added that the demand for jurors in general has been on the rise.
“I may have to cancel my entire week, because if I get called, I don”t know if I have to cancel the next day”s appointments, the whole week or none at all,” he said. He recently received a notice of failure to appear for jury duty on Oct. 31. “Not all my mail gets to my P.O. box,” writes Everett in his letter to the jury commissioner.
Everett said it is the sense of constantly maintaining his status as a juror that may drive him and his wife out of the county. His letter explains the couple”s intention to sell their two Lake County homes and continue working in the county from Ukiah. “If I have to get out of this county to be able to do business in this county, then I will,” he said.
Learning of Everett”s letter Wednesday afternoon, county supervisors Anthony Farrington and Rob Brown both agreed the number of times Everett had been summoned seemed excessive. Farrington noted that the Board of Supervisors has no jurisdiction over the Lake County Superior Court.
“If I had that many summons in that amount of years I would probably be equally as upset,” said Brown.
Everett said he believes if you live in Lake County, it”s pretty clear-cut: “You”re either a felon or a juror.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
