by Richard W. Millar, Jr.

I don’t know about you, but for me those jury duty summons seem to come around annually. Equally, invariably I have to change the scheduled date. That, of course, is why God invented “menu options.”

I have actually served on a trial once. On several occasions, I have made it to the box only to be ceremoniously dumped once I disclosed that I was a lawyer who had a passing familiarity with courtrooms. Otherwise, it has been remarkably like trailing, and the food is the same.

It never occurred to me that scammers would see jury service as a scam opportunity, but one Kentucky lawyer received a phone call from a “Lt. Yates” who said that the lawyer had missed showing up for duty and that she (the lawyer) would be arrested in twenty-four hours if she didn’t post bond. Bond was conveniently two prepaid $750 Visa cards. The lawyer was saved by a suspicious bank teller, which says something about lawyers and bank tellers, and which is why I did not mention the lawyer’s name.

Also, I have never thought about jury duty from the standpoint of all those people who have to prepare and administer the entire notice procedure. That’s a lot of work and they get it right most of the time.

Key word: “most.”

As always, a case in point.

Actually, it is an event as opposed to a case. Pascagoula, Mississippi is the county seat for Jackson County and one Randy Carney is the new Circuit Clerk charged with the obligation of sending out jury duty notices. Not too long ago, jury duty notices were sent out to some 350 denizens of the area. I don’t know how they do it in Orange County, but in Pascagoula the printing of the notices was outsourced to a private printing firm. The notices helpfully instructed the recipients to call two telephone numbers the night before they were scheduled to appear. The first number was a local Pascagoula number (769-3039) and the other was an 800 number (1-800-696-3044). The two numbers had been used for years.

Since Mr. Carney was the new clerk, the only change in the notices was supposed to be the substitution of his name for the former clerk, Joe Martin. Reports do not indicate whether that change was made, but there were two others made that should not have been. Both phone numbers had at least one incorrect digit.

The results of this transposition were the sort that keep circuit clerks up at night. (I suppose that assumes that such clerks are awake during the day, but I digress.) If potential jurors called the local number, instead of getting instructions on reporting for duty, they got voicemail. Those who persisted, or who called the 800 number in the first instance, were not so, shall we say, frustrated. They got, and I am not making this up, phone sex.

Well, I am going to go out on a limb here and opine that at least the male Pascagoulians (if that’s a word) would opt for free phone sex over learning where to park at the courthouse for jury duty every time. In fact, once word got out, which would probably be less than ten minutes after the first call, I will bet that half the male population of southern Mississippi was suddenly interested in serving on a Jackson County jury.

Mr. Carney, who had been on the job for a month, learned of the error in a call from a circuit judge who may or may not have had a sense of humor. In any event, the hapless clerk has been busy sending letters to all 350 or so potential jurors apologizing “for any inconvenience” the mistake may have caused.

I don’t think that Mr. Carney should feel bad or even be embarrassed. He did a great public service.

This is the first time in my life I actually look forward to a jury notice.

Richard W. Millar, Jr. is a member of the firm of Millar, Hodges & Bemis in Newport Beach. He can be reached at millar@mhblaw.net.