Why Not to Skip Out on Jury Duty

A 19-year-old Houston woman recently found out why skipping jury duty is not a good idea. The Lone Star College pre-nursing freshman was scheduled to appear in front of U.S. District Judge David Hittner on Monday to be part of a panel of 60 potential jurors for a healthcare fraud case, but decided to play hooky.

When the judge’s clerk called her to see why she was not at the courthouse she lied and told the clerk she had a flat tire. When the clerk offered to come pick her up, the teen confessed that she wanted to attend class and would not come to the court house. When the clerks called back to tell her that Judge Hittner wanted her to appear on Tuesday to explain herself, she was rude and hung up on the clerks.

Apparently Judge Hittner frowns upon his clerks being hung up on, because he ordered federal marshals to bring the girl to court on Tuesday. She appeared in front of the Judge on Tuesday morning in ankle restraints, wearing flip-flops and with green streaks in her hair.

After scolding the teen the Judge released the girl.

According to the Houston Chronicle the girl’s father intends to sue. He claims that his daughter had to visit a doctor because her ankles were bruised and bleeding du e to the ankle restraints.

While I am not condoning the actions taken by the Judge, I think it was probably a pretty effective way to get his point across. My guess would be that this young lady has been taught a valuable lesson that will not soon be forgotten.