The Feds Finally Got Me!

Hi Everyone,

Yes, the title you just read is correct and accurate. The Feds did finally get me and after all this time! I tried for years not to do it but alas, I guess my time was up and I was summoned. Summoned for jury duty in the Federal Courthouse located at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan. I was a call in jurist 5 years ago, which didn't count this year because they can't call you for jury duty within 4 years. Missed by 1 year, c'est la vie. Then last October, the Feds tried again and I got out of it, with a very legit reason. But this time, their letter was a demand that I must appear at the Jury Assembly room at 8:30 AM last Monday. But I still had to call in the night before for confirmation that my services were required. I called the night before and was told that I did indeed have to report. It took me 2 hours and 50 minutes to get to the Federal Courthouse, from doorstep to doorstep. I did make one mistake by getting off the subway one stop early. By the third day I got the travel time down to 2 1/2 hours, so it wasn't to, to bad.

Monday morning, there I was in the Jury Assembly room waiting with probably 300++ other people. There were 2 huge screens where the power-point presentation was showing over and over again. Then a person would make announcements that repeated the same thing that was on the screens. But then a different person asked if anyone was there who hadn't called the night before. I couldn't believe that at least 75 people lined up and about half of them were not needed. I mean, come on, why would you just appear without calling first? Those people were either blind or lacked common sense to realize that right above the phone number and address was a message in caps, to call the night before. Believe it or not, this is not the reason for today's blog. It was the next announcement that took me by surprise. The person in charge of the Assembly room told all that the pay was $40.00/day. OK I already knew that. Then the woman stated that after 10 days on jury duty, the daily pay would increase to $50.00/day. OK I didn't know that, but I really didn't want to be a juror for 10 days. Then the woman dropped the bombshell.......If you are a juror and the total payment to you is $600.00 or more, you would receive a 1099 and owe Federal and State income taxes on the amount. Immediately I heard lots of mumblings from a lot of the people. After it calmed down, the woman said that the majority of trials last less then 2 weeks and the majority of those last less then one week. There was a question from the audience to basically verify the $600 amount. She confirmed it and the questioner responded that it wasn't fair with lots of people agreeing. She replied that, they had to do it since it was the law.

So I get that there is a law about that, but still....?  Why would the government want to or need to tax any jurors who made more then $600? Where is the common sense here? Whether you go voluntarily or be summoned like me, this should be an exception to the $600 rule. There can't be that many people who serve as jurors who would make more then $600. So the amount of taxes received is negligible. Since the Feds daily juror pay is so low, don't add salt to the wound by taxing higher amounts. To me, that just makes sense.

On a positive note, I really and thoroughly enjoyed my time as an alternate juror. I won't go into details about the trial, but I learned so much about how our Federal Judicial trial system works. It isn't like the TV show Law and Order. Even the way that the courtroom was set up was totally different from what I thought it would be like. The Judge even explained everything to us as the trial progressed. The only downside for me was, since I was an alternate, I was dismissed immediately prior to the jury deliberating and obviously couldn't participate. Now I don't have to serve in any County, State or Federal Court for another 4 years. I did receive a call from the Court Clerk this past Friday and she told me that the jury had found the defendant guilty on all charges. I definitely agree with the the jury's decision.

Til next week.

Peter