The Tribune, Jackson County, Ind. World Nation Page 8B Wednesday, September 29, 2004 hose who dodge jury service face public shaming and fine Angeles County to New York have responded by redirecting these scof flaws from the jury box to the hot seat. Residents who ignore repeated calls to appear can face fines and, in some places, even jail time. "It's not an invitation," said jury expert Tom Mun- LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Every month, hundreds of people are summoned to courts across the nation for a public scolding.
It's no surprise that only a handful show up after all, they are expert at that ail-American custom: dodging jury duty. Fed-up judges from Los also trying to cope. Sanction hearings like the one in Long Beach catch only a small fraction of jury dodgers and are intended primarily as public outreach. Until two years ago, they, were held solely at the main downtown Los Angeles courthouse. The massive county's 9.9 million people weren't getting the message, so officials began rotating the hearings among various courts.
The county slapped residents with more than $940,000 in penalties over the first six months of this year, fines that are referred to a collection agency. Court couldn't say how many people were fined. certain amount of hours I have to" work, she pleaded. "I don't have the time. Right now the way I feel, I can't be a juror." The judge deferred her service to next September.
Still teary eyed outside court, Acevedo expressed anger over being required to serve. "A jury is not something you should be forced to do," she said. "It's something you want to do." Not exactly, though court orders to serve are largely ignored. Factoring in deferrals, bad addresses and legitimate excuses, an average of 20 to 30 percent of the summonses sent out nationwide net a juror, according to Munster-man of the Virginia-based Center for Jury Studies. Books explain how to duck the duty, and numerous Web sites list excuses both seri ous and lighthearted: "I get dizzy if I try to weigh evidence" and "I'm allergic to justice." "I don't think people realize it is a citizenship duty until we put it right in front of their face," Wright said last week.
Nationwide, courts are trying to do just that make the consequences of jury dodging more painful. Since November, state trial courts around Phoenix have sent sheriff's deputies to the homes of jury dodgers with orders to appear. In New York County, officials snared 1,443 Manhattan jury dodgers last year with $250 fines. The massive Los Angeles County court system, which sent out 2.9 million summonses in the last fiscal year and had an initial response rate around 25 percent, is sterman. "It's an obligation." Earlier this month, only eight of 225 people identified as chronic offenders showed up to feel the wrath of Superior Court Judge James L.
Wright. Those who ducked their duty were all fined, though penalties would be dropped if they actually serve. The eight who did attend had an uncomfortable time. A single mother holding her infant had her service deferred a year. A man who told the judge he ignored the summons because he hasn't mastered English was ordered to report next month.
Wright watched as tears rolled down the face of Dar-lene Acevedo, a 52-year-old dock worker from Wilmington. "My husband's in the hospital for a year. I have a i i- TIME18 SI on Monday or Tuesday Clashes break out in heart of Iraqi capital III 1171 W.Tipton St. Suite 524-7200 BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) U.S. and Iraqi forces raided suspected insurgent hideouts in the heart of the capi- 7 "Uflr expires PfomnMr lom, cannot cornMBM witn any otnar counts or girt cannlj for car bombs and Other attacks in the area, said CoL Mohammed Abdullah.
Five other suspected insurgents were also taken into custody as U.S.' and Iraqi forces clashed with rebels on the street. During the operation, an Associated Press photographer saw about a dozen people rounded up behind a razor wire barrier with their hands tied. It was not known whether they included the six people Abdullah said had been arrested. The commander said his troops also uncovered large caches of weapons, ammuni- tal today, sparking clashes along a main Baghdad thoroughfare. The release of two Italian women and five other hostages encouraged relatives of foreigners still being held.
Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops arrested a suspected terrorist operating on Baghdad's bloodied Haifa Street, cornering him today in a closet as he tried to conceal his face with his wife's underwear, an Iraqi National Guard commander said. Kadhim al-Dafan is believed to be a key neighborhood leaderresponsible tion and explosives secreted between graves of the nearby Sheikh Omar cemetery. The two female Italian aid workers were released Tuesday and returned home just hours later. The Italians, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, were wearing full black veils that revealed only their eyes as they were received by the Italian Red Cross in a Bagh-dad neighborhood, according to video broadcast by the Arab news station Al-Jazeera.
Today, Torretta told reporters outside her home in Rome that the pair's captors assured them they were not in danger. Asked if she feared she would die during her captivity, Torretta first said "Yes," but then added that their abductors "reassured us. They understood the work we did." The two women, both 29, work for the aid group "Un Ponte (A bridge to), which carries out water projects and helps Iraqi -y vTI Sad Estate Deeds Business Law Corporations Partnerships 1 3 Markel Markel i i LJ Lambring Joseph K. Markd Localizers helping JVlaCTaViSJll local people since 1949 1 I A i J- 'I I I 1 i 1 I i "I i l)rh I Your friend flies III Simply collect the puzzle pieces within the next 6 weeks and submit them with the picture below and you could be the lucky winner of 2 Pacers Tickets. when you take off with Free Checking.
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