Get Gephardt: How can a noncitizen receive a summons for jury duty?

SALT LAKE CITY — Juries hold fates in their hands. From defendants who swear they did not run a red light to those accused of much more consequential crimes.

Depending on your point of view, jury duty can either be an awesome civic responsibility or a time-sucking burden.

While many Utahns will be summoned, there are thousands who cannot serve. The list includes folks with a significant physical or mental disability, convicted felons, and people who are not U.S. citizens. That last one is germane.

A Venezuelan native living here in Utah contacted Get Gephardt after receiving a letter informing him that he was being summoned for jury duty.

The letter said he must go online to answer several personal questions. The educator asked not to be identified because he fears it could slow down his Talent Visa application and that he may be scammed.

It turned out the letter really did come from Utah State Courts. He really is being called to serve on a jury. That, of course, raises another potentially more serious question: Why is someone who legally cannot be a juror getting a summons?

A court spokesperson, Tania Mashburn, said there is a perfectly good explanation. In Utah, jurors are chosen, in part, from driver’s license records. The state’s Driver License Division feeds the court all those names.

“DLD does not sort the data by citizen or not, and then we have no way of knowing,” Mashburn said. “So, if they have a state ID or driver’s license – they would be in the pool. Then if they fill out the form and say they are not citizens, we update records so they don’t get into future pools.”

So, in the end, this wasn’t a case of someone pulling off a scam, identity theft, or someone invading Utah’s justice system. It was just the system working as intended.

If you do get a juror questionnaire, you should never ignore it. Those who refuse to complete the questionnaire or refuse to appear when called to serve are subject to fines and jail time for contempt of court.