18 Warrants Issued For Jury Duty No-Shows

INDIANAPOLIS -- More than a dozen people who either missed jury duty or ignored court summons face arrest as part of a crackdown by Marion County's superior court judges.

The judges issued 18 warrants this week, though authorities later learned that one of the accused is dead and another no longer lives in the country. The judges hope the prospect of an arrest for contempt of court for the other 16 will spur more potential jurors to respond when they're called to duty.

Despite months of publicity and public-service ads about the get-tough policy, the county's no-show rate for potential jurors remains at just below 50 percent.

"People have a responsibility to respond. We're talking about taxpayers' money and the inconvenience of people who do show up. It bogs down the system," said Glenn Lawrence, the court's administrator.

Some of the people for whom warrants were issued are accused of ignoring summonses to mass court hearings called in November for people who missed jury duty from Oct. 22 to 26. The others showed up to those hearings, received a new jury assignment -- and then didn't show up again, according to the court.

Once the individuals surrender or are arrested, they will be processed at the jail and will then have to pay $50 to satisfy the $500 bond set for each, officials said. Each person is being held in indirect contempt of court and will get a hearing date.

The sentence for indirect contempt, neither a felony nor a misdemeanor, is entirely up to a judge's discretion, but could mean community service or even jail time.

Those being targeted were among more than 200 people who failed to show up to the mass hearings in November, out of 325 summoned. The current crackdown involves cases where someone from the person's home signed for the certified mail, signaling they knew of the hearing.