Confused on whether or not to go to jury duty (reposted to add location).
Reposting this to say I live on the coast in Mississippi. I received a summons recently, and I sent in a letter and doctors note to be excused from it. But since I was only able to send that off a week before the case (which starts tomorrow), I called the circuit clerks office twice. I can’t remember why I called the first time, but the second was to confirm that they got my note. I’m still not quite sure that they got my note, but throughout those two calls, during which I spoke to two different women, they both pretty much told me if I sent in the letter I don’t need to show up. And I remember being told I didn’t need to receive confirmation of that. Basically no news is good news in this case.
When I spoke to the second woman, she told me the previous woman had “checked off” my name. She told me I didn’t need to show up, and that I didn’t need to call the number the night before. She also told me they literally do nothing to people who don’t show up, and she giggled when I said I didn’t want to be fined or arrested.
That was two days ago, but I did call tonight and the recording told me to go. It didn’t ask for my name, juror number, voter ID or anything personal at all. It just said something like if you’ve received a summons for the week of April 20, report in the morning. But here’s the thing: my husband called as well and it turns out everyone who calls hears that recording whether they received a summons or not. He didn’t receive one, and yet heard the same recording.
I am so confused on whether or not I need to go. The people I spoke with this past week told me don’t go, but the recording did (and apparently would tell everyone who called it).