Have you ever been called to serve on jury duty? Jurors are randomly drawn from a court district’s pool of eligible jurors. Eligible jurors include all the names of district residents who are U.S. citizens, at least 18 years old, speak and read English, are acquitted felons, and do not have any disqualifying mental or physical conditions.

All that said, any citizen can be called to serve, including congressmen. Surprisingly, that’s exactly what just happened to Congress member Hakeem Jeffries, who was asked to report for jury duty at Kings County Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

When the important political figure appeared in court, Judge Justice Genine Edwards greeted him and praised him for upholding his civic responsibilities as a citizen.

Congressmember Jeffries currently serves as House Minority Leader and represents New York’s entire eighth Congressional District. In recent months, he’s been a key figure in advocating for Democrats during high-stakes negotiations in Washington. He has also been instrumental in leading the Democratic Party during key meetings focused on foreign aid, budgeting issues, and government funding deals. Despite his significant responsibilities, he still carved out time in his schedule to uphold his civic duty and serve on a jury.

Jeffries was born in Crown Heights and graduated from Binghamton University. Later, he earned advanced degrees from Georgetown University and New York University School of Law.

In New York, all residents who are eligible to serve jury duty and are called upon to do so must appear, without any exception. Individuals are exempt if they aren’t U.S. citizens or do not live in Brooklyn.

Jury Duty: Your Civic Responsibility

In Brooklyn, judges are given the authority to impose penalties against citizens who fail to appear for jury duty when they’ve been rightfully called to serve. Penalties can range from criminal charges to civil and financial penalties.

One option is to charge the individual with contempt of court. This type of charge is likely if you completely ignore a jury summons. The reason for this is that a jury summons is considered a court order, so not complying is considered contempt of court. The penalty for this criminal charge includes potential jail time of up to 30 days or fines of up to $5,000.

You’ll know if you’re facing this type of charge because a warrant will be issued for your arrest.

Brooklyn Judges also have the option of charging a person with civil contempt of court for failing to appear. The purpose of this isn’t to punish the person but to encourage them to comply and show up to appear for jury duty. You can still be jailed for this charge if it gets upgraded to a criminal charge due to continued non-compliance.

Judges can also order individuals who failed to appear for jury duty to pay a fine of up to $250 while a new summons date is assigned. Judges can also order violators to perform a specific amount of community service to make up for their lack of compliance.

If you recently missed jury duty, then contact an attorney right away. Contact us now talk about what happened for free by leaving your contact details on our online form.