Q: Possible contempt of court proceedings for not appearing for jury duty when the jury summons was never received?
I received a letter today from the City of Aurora (Colorado) stating contempt of court proceedings will be started against me if I do not call the Jury's Commissioner's office within 10 days, which I'll be sure to do. But I never received a summons. Can I really be held in contempt of court under this scenario? Wouldn't they need proof I received it? Or is this some scare tactic? It would be nice to go into this call with some background info. Thanks.
A: You can claim that you were not provided notice, but this won't excuse the appearance obligation. You can be held in contempt for non-appearance. This type of proceeding is relatively rare, and usually if you show up for jury duty (without incident) nothing happens. In the rare cases where contempt hearings do occur, the usual penalty is financial over jail time AND you are required to immediately appear for a jury.
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