DMN Problem Solver: Collin County man held for 83 days for missing jury duty (Northern Dallas)

DallasMorningNews.com ^ | 05/09/2009 | Katie Fairbank

[devane617]

Exerted from DMN:

Douglas Maupin was held at the Collin County Detention Facility for 83 days on a warrant for failure to appear for jury duty. During those days of legal purgatory, he said he was unable to hire a lawyer, post bail or even get a clear explanation of what type of charge he was being held on.

[devane617]

Collin county Texas is the county that I live in. I am shocked that this happened here. Unbelieveable story....

[fremont_steve]

Moral of the Story - show up for Jury duty - or ELSE! ;-)

[ex91B10]

Read the ‘disclaimer’ that comes with any notice of jury duty: refusal is a punishable offense.

[cripplecreek]

Its not hard to get out of jury duty. Sounds like he just ignored it.

[freebilly]

Of course the inevitable comments from the statists here is that this guy only has himself to blame because he failed to appear for jury duty....

[devane617]

I agree, he was wrong. But 83 days???? Especially when you can drive down any street in the area and pick up thousands of illegals. About 50% of drivers have no insurance...etc., etc....

[cripplecreek]

It’s the law.

Would you be happier to see a child rapist walk free because potential jurors felt rebellious that day?

[cripplecreek]

It is excessive. I believe it runs to around 90 days at most where I live.

[CodeToad]

Just go in and when asked if you feel you can be a jurist just say you believe the system to be corrupt. They’ll excuse you.

[freebilly]

Idiot! He was put behind bars for 83 days without due process. I don’t care what crime he committed— this is the frickin’ US, not some Taliban backwater in the Mideast...

[oldfart]

“It’s the law.”

Y’need to be careful how you toss that phrase around. In this particular case it might fly okay but back in Germany in 1940 a similar situation permitted the lawful persecution and eventual deaths of a large number of Jews.

Sometimes slippery slopes are hard to see in time to do anything about them.

[devane617]

Yep, I do my duty all the time. I believe I must hold the world’s record for jury duty summons here in Collin county. I get summoned by Plano, and Collin county. I go, wait, and get excused. On rare occasion, serve on a jury.

[cripplecreek]

I get called for jury duty too and I can’t even legally serve (old felony drunk driving arrest). I still have to be in contact with them to get excused.

[CodeToad]

Ever since I stated that I thought a cop in a case was dirty and so were the judge and prosecutors I haven’t been called back. I used to be called once a year.

[devane617]

I agree freebilly. I am not upset that he was jailed, but that he obviously fell through the cracks. According to the news story, several people tried to alert the authorities to the problem. What I think is missing is that the jailers did not recognize a problem and alert the courts. I suspect this guy will be in the news for day to come because of the stupidity of the authorities in this situation.

[freebilly]

You're right, I am a pathetic clown because I happen to believe that no government has the right to keep someone in prison for 3 months without access to legal representation, without a preliminary court hearing, without a trial, without court sentencing....

You better hope you don't get arrested in Colin County for littering....

[devane617]

I’ll try it next time. I have a friend that gets called about as much as I do, yet his wife is rarely called/summoned.

[cripplecreek]

LOL that’ll do it.

[freebilly]

There are some people posting here who miss the point of this story....