Juror Scofflaw Court - Back in Session

Four more Philadelphians who repeatedly dodged jury duty found themselves before a judge Wednesday: one voluntarily and three after getting an early morning escort by court warrant officers who arrested them.

According to Philadelphia Jury Commissioner Daniel A. Rendine, all four people were among those subpoenaed to appear in the city's new Juror Scofflaw Court on May 21. None showed up and bench warrants were issued for their arrest.

Rendine said one of the four surrendered last week and spent the day in jail before returning Wednesday to plead guilty before Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart, who added a $50 fine. The other three pleaded guilty and were fined $100 before being led to a cell for the rest of the day.

All four also got new dates to report for jury duty, Rendine said.

This year, Common Pleas Court Administrative Judge John W. Herron revived the Juror Scofflaw Court program he launched in 2000 to convince people of the importance of jury duty and try to end what he said is becoming a crisis for the court system.

Of 700,000 people to be summoned this year, Herron has said, about 13 percent will appear on their day. It costs taxpayers to mail repeated notices to scofflaws — $166,000 — and even more to have court warrant officers hunt them down and arrest them and judges conduct contempt hearings. The lack of jurors appearing for court has forced court officials to cut the size of panels of prospective jurors from 50 to 40 for criminal trials and 40 to 30 for civil trials.

There are still 14 people with outstanding bench warrants from the first group subpoenaed to appear on May 21. When they are arrested, said Rendine, a new contempt hearing will be scheduled. Rendine said they are also gathering a new list of people who have blown off two or more summonses for jury duty for another session of Juror Scofflaw Court.