UPDATED: Allen man misses jury duty, goes to jail for 83 days

by PegNews wire

Allen resident Douglas Maupin has been in jail for 83 days for failing to report for jury duty, a situation that was deemed "unacceptable" by a judge who finally heard Maupin's case Friday.

Maupin was jailed on a six-year-old jury duty warrant, and has since run into several problems, including inability to meet the $1,500 bond and being told that he's ineligible for a public defender because his is a civil case.

UPDATE: Turns out Maupin wasn't actually lost in the system. Another judge had been handling his case since at least March, but that judge said Maupin had to take care of outstanding Arlington traffic tickets before his jury duty-skipping case could be addressed.

Of course, since Maupin said he couldn't afford to pay the tickets, and he was, you know, in jail, that ultimatum allowed for his extraordinarily long jail stay.

Posted by Alex B.

Staff
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Kevin Kunreuther, says:

I have one question concerning this: who in the hell benefited by incarcerating this citizen?

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6 months, 3 weeks ago
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Pavel Lishin, says:

I was not aware that skipping jury duty meant you were ineligible for a public defender. Sounds shady.

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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abcd0123, says:

Sometimes I wonder if federal laws are being "broken," especially after reading this. Maupin went to jail for failing to report for jury duty. I have lived in Collin County for over 32 years, but I have never been selected for jury duty! Yes. I am not only a "registered voter," but a Homeowner since 1976! Could It Be That The Larger Story Here Is That Only "Whites & Token Blacks Get Called" To Jury Duty? I wish someone would investigate to see if Federal Laws are being violated. Right now I'm reading a book titled "White But Not Equal," so it has me questioning the Collin County Jury Selection System!! Stay Tuned.....

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Pavel Lishin, says:

abcd0123, your story lacks context; what's your ethnicity?

Also, I'm not sure how they pick out folks for jury duty; isn't it based on voter registration?

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Jason Rice, says:

maybe abcd is suggesting that if jury selection was more fair, Maupin wouldn't have got a jury selection summons at all and abcd would be begging for a lawyer now instead.