Warrants ordered for potential jurors

Eight Grant County residents still need to reply

EPHRATA - Eight Grant County residents may be served with warrants for not showing up for jury duty.

Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen ordered the warrants, but they won't be put into action for seven days to give the people time to respond.

This is part of a new system put into place this summer to increase the number of jurors. Each month, the court sends out about 1,000 summons along with a questionnaire, said Kim Allen, Grant County clerk. About 400 people respond and about 200 are qualified for jury duty.

"It's a crime not to respond to a summons," Jorgensen said. "I want people to understand if we're going to have a free society and live under the Constitution, we have to have juries and people have to respond."

The court then selects about 12 people randomly out of the 600 who didn't reply. They were sent a show-cause order and had to explain in court why they didn't respond.

"We didn't give notice to them all," Jorgensen said. "We gave notices to a random selection. We're hoping the word gets out that (people) need to respond to summons."

Three people appeared in court Friday to explain why they didn't return their questionnaires, he said. He explained to them if they don't return it, then can be a misdemeanor and punishable with up to 90 days in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.

"Some people showed up and I explained that we're dealing with a crime," Jorgensen said. "We're trying to work with people. If they respond to the summons and if they have a hardship we can deal with that."

If the eight people who didn't appear on Friday don't respond then the arrest warrants will go to the Grant County Sheriff's Office, Allen said. Once police arrest them, they will have to appear in court to explain why they didn't respond.

If people received a summons and need more information, the court can be reached by calling 509-754-2011.