Dead simple jury excuse good reason

More than 120 people have been excused from jury service – because they are dead.

Ministry of Justice released figures showing that more than half of those called for jury service around New Zealand managed to get their service either deferred or excused.

The main reason given was occupational or business reasons, but 128 people in the year to January could not report for service as they were dead.

The ministry confirmed it was usually relatives of the deceased who notified the courts of why jury service would be missed.

In that time, 129,602 New Zealanders were called for jury service. Of those, 74,841 ended up not attending, the ministry’s Official Information Act response said.

Renee Smith, from the ministry, said jury summons were random and taken from the electoral roll.

‘‘Occasionally people who have passed away are summonsed before they are removed from the roll,’’ Smith said.

‘‘In these circumstances, a relative usually lets us know.’’

Service was a ‘‘valuable and important civic duty’’, though the ministry recognised there were times it would be hard for people to attend when summonsed.

When that happened people could apply to have it deferred by up to one year, or to be excused.

Jacquelyn Shannon, from the ministry, said most people on the electoral roll living within 45 minutes of a courthouse where jury trials were held could be selected.

There were a range of reasons people may not be able to attend such as having a newborn baby or a medical appointment and they could ask for their service to be delayed to a better time.

University of Auckland law professor Bill Hodge said the figures showed too many people were dodging jury service and there was a belief that juries were over-represented by retired people with time on their hands.

‘‘It is important to have a cross-section of people and a jury of one’s peers.’’

Former Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-brown received a jury summons for October 10, 2016, two days after she stepped down from the mayoralty.

This time she turned up on two days and didn’t get selected but years earlier, when she was a city councillor, she did end up on a jury for a man charged with driving offences.

It was an experience that people should embrace, she said.

‘‘Otherwise, who are we delegating these important decisions to?’’

... 128 people in the year to January could not report for [jury] service as they were dead.