Thread: Nevada: Illegal Immigrants Receiving Jury Duty Notices

Illegal Immigrants Receiving Jury Duty Notices

Oct 10, 2007 03:23 PM PDT

The call for jury duty is going out to some illegal immigrants, even though the court cannot take them and does not report them.

In Clark County there is a jury pool of hundreds of thousands of people.

Still, it can sometimes be hard to find jurors for a trial.

So court administrators are getting aggressive.

But what they are getting back may be surprising.

Amid all the concern over illegal immigrants, there is at least one job strictly reserved for Americans.

"To be a juror is a duty and privilege of being a US citizen. But occasionally people who are not citizens get called for jury duty", Michael Sommermeyer says.

The courts use Department of Motor Vehicle records. They will even soon use your power bill to build a list of names for jury duty.

And that has summons going to some people who do not even speak the language.

A woman from Panama has been living here illegally for 20 years.

Action News will only identify her as single mom, worried about being deported.

She received a summons and says "my body was shaking. I said oh my God. What's going to happen now? They have my phone number now and my address".

"We don't have time to be reporting people to the immigration authorities. But we do need to make sure we are not seating people who are ineligible to be jurors", Sommermeyer says.

When a resident actually receives a jury summons in the mail, it comes with a list of qualifications.

You must be a US citizen, you cannot be a felon and you have to be a resident of Clark County.

Those qualifications are set down by the law.

Despite that, in an effort to fill seats in the jury box, the Clark County courts sent a summons to one man who is not a US citizen and is a convicted felon.

He got the summons when he was still in prison.

"I was debating on going to trial or taking a plea. And I'm glad I didn't go to trial because I didn't know what kind of jury would be showing up at my trial", he says.

Julia Osborne is an immigration attorney.

She says the practice of inviting illegals to jury duty is bound to cause trouble for both the courts and the illegals who get summoned.

But to get out of serving, an illegal would have to go to court in person and admit to the judge they have no right to be there.

The most surprising fact of all this may be that an alien who does not go to court and tell them they are illegal is facing a lot more trouble than one who dies.

Anyone who is called for jury duty and ignores the summons, is facing fines and other penalties and possible jail time.

http://www.ktnv.com/global/story.asp?s=7196369

Maybe also these illegals are signed up to Vote??????????????
They usually get jury names from voter registrations!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe someone in Nevada should check this out

Sorry, lost my composure ... first jury duty... next they will be voting for our next president

YES THEY USUALLY GET THE LIST FROM THE VOTER ROLES. BUT YOU HAVE TO BE A CITIZEN TO SIT ON A JURY. THEY JUST HAVE TO SAY THEY ARE NOT A CITIZEN.....THEY DONT HAVE TO SAY THEY ARE ILLEGAL. THEY JUST HAVE TO WRITE ON THE SUMMONS THAT THEY ARE NOT A CITIZEN. OF COURSE THE COURT IS GOING TO WANT TO KNOW WHY THEY ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE. HE HE.

Redpony wrote

OF COURSE THE COURT IS GOING TO WANT TO KNOW WHY THEY ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE. HE HE.

Don't count on it. They'll just look the other way like everyone else has for the last 30 years. This country is a friggin disaster. Greed, evil greed.

Doesn't that sort of push the envelope with respect to idea of having a 'jury of your peers'??? I certainly wouldn't want to have to sit through a trial knowing that the people judging my fate aren't even supposed to be in the country, much less, determining the guilt or innocence of Americans charged with crimes/civil actions...

Looks like this puts some illegal between a rock and a hard place. Damned if they do and damned if they don't. That'll teach 'em for getting driver's licenses they're not entitled to. Although they are not runnning them in when they find out they're illegal, maybe it will scare them enough to get them to go back to their own country.

Apparently this does present a dilemma to them. The discussion copied below was taken from one of their web sites.

Verbalist
Junior Member
Posted October 05, 2007 10:53 PM
I've seen in the archive that this matter was discussed in 2003. Many things have changed since then so I'd like to propose to re-visit this topic. Specifically, how an undocumented alien responds to the summons? Obviously, an alien is disqualified from jury duty but now the Jury Commissioner requires a visa number or an A number on a juror's questionnaire. Equally obvious is a fact that there is no such number for an undocumented alien. How he is to respond to that? On one hand, a prospective juror has to provide truthful information under the penalty of perjury. On the other hand a juror's information is public and there is still a Fifth amendment allowing anyone not to incriminate oneself. Nevertheless, it seems awkward to plea the Fifth on a jury questionnaire. What seems to be a reasonable reply? I'll deeply appreciate your insights.
Posts: 1 | Registered: October 05, 2007

wannabeus
Associate Member
Posted October 05, 2007 11:13 PM Hide Post
when i got my jury summons i sent back the reply with my passport number as the visa number,a couple of days later i received a letter that,i was excused from jury duty and to let them know if my circumstances changed.
Posts: 6 | Registered: August 05, 2007

Ignored post by wannabeus posted October 05, 2007 11:13 PM Show Post

Lexiepynk
Associate Member
Posted October 05, 2007 11:22 PM Hide Post
how would and immigrant get a jury summons
Posts: 9 | Registered: February 14, 2007

Ignored post by Lexiepynk posted October 05, 2007 11:22 PM Show Post

Lexiepynk
Associate Member
Posted October 05, 2007 11:23 PM Hide Post
how does that happen
Posts: 9 | Registered: February 14, 2007

Ignored post by Lexiepynk posted October 05, 2007 11:23 PM Show Post

wannabeus
Associate Member
Posted October 05, 2007 11:24 PM Hide Post
they use the list from department of motor vehicles
Posts: 6 | Registered: August 05, 2007

Ignored post by wannabeus posted October 05, 2007 11:24 PM Show Post

explora
Power Member

Posted October 06, 2007 12:11 AM Hide Post
I thought the driver's license history would say 'this person isn't a U.S. citizen.' I've seen it on driving histories. I don't know why they'd send a summons to an undocumented person.

It wouldn't surprise me if ICE would be there waiting. This might be another tactic they'll begin using.

I think it was Chuck who posted an update about his friend, Paco, that was a witness in a court hearing and they found out he was undocumented and arrested him.

If a person doesn't show up I thought they are sent a fine in the amt. of around $100. I'd rather pay the fine than show up.

One can anomously call a court clerk's office and ask how it's handled. Or call and ask what the procedure is to be exused.

If one is working out of town and not expected to be present during the time of the hearing they'll exuse you. You only need to have a good reason. You might be required to send a short letter to the judge (which s/he'd never read) and you'll be exused.

Who wants jury duty? I can't afford to sit there and lose wages.
Posts: 2107 | Registered: November 10, 2006

Ignored post by explora posted October 06, 2007 12:11 AM Show Post

Kollerkrot
Frequent Member

Posted October 06, 2007 11:57 AM Hide Post
Very interesting topic. It once again shows that in America, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing!!

I've been here for many years - when I came in 1985, I was undocumented, but had an Alien No. from when I applied - I was denied, but my A-Number was still active, always has been. Things prior to 9/11 where different. I too received jury duty notices every once in a while and remember that they actually asked whether you are an American or not. I checked the section that asked that (said of course that I am not) send it in and was done with it and didn't have to deal with them regarding this individual notice again. During the time after 9/11 and my filing in January of this year, I had received another jury duty summons and this time I just gave them my A-number. I had to go to court, as a stand-by, but never had to actually serve. I was just on-call. I thought if somebody would have caused me any problems in regards to this, I would have "crossed that bridge when I got there!", because my stance on this always was - I am trying to be an upstanding active individual/citizen and serving for jury duty is part of that. I don't think anyone would have been able to proof me wrong in that regard.

Since January of this year I am documented - haven't received my perm residency yet, but think I soon will.

.....I may condemn what you say, but I will risk my life for that you may say it - Voltaire!
Posts: 329 | Registered: April 08, 2006

Ignored post by Kollerkrot posted October 06, 2007 11:57 AM Show Post

Aibolit
Frequent Member
Posted October 07, 2007 12:40 PM Hide Post
quote:
I had received another jury duty summons and this time I just gave them my A-number. I had to go to court, as a stand-by, but never had to actually serve. I was just on-call.


Don't try it in the future. Only US citizens can serve on jury. Serving jury duty before becoming US citizen may be interpreted by USCIS as falsely claiming to be a US citizen - a deportable offense with no waiver available.

If served with jury duty summons your only response should be sending back a notice with the box "not a US citizen" checked.
Posts: 207 | Registered: October 12, 2003

Ignored post by Aibolit posted October 07, 2007 12:40 PM Show Post

Kollerkrot
Frequent Member

Posted October 07, 2007 03:03 PM Hide Post
But, don't you understand, I did give them my A-number, which means Alien Number - stating that I am an Alien. They still called me!

.....I may condemn what you say, but I will risk my life for that you may say it - Voltaire!

http://discuss.ilw.com/eve/forums/a/tpc ... 5910863241