‘The officer returns with the owner in handcuffs.’ Juror Tells A Judge That He’ll Get Fired If He Attends Jury Duty, So The Judge Arrest The Juror’s Boss

Jury duty might be our civic duty and all, but there’s more than one reason someone might not be up for serving – starting with the fact that there are many employers out there who won’t pay you a day’s wages for your time.

For OP, it was worse than that. He was just a kid when he got his summons but dutifully put in for the full week off – only to be confronted by his big boss, who told him to get out of jury duty or be fired.

This was back in the 80’s, my first job, working as maintenance man at a local hotel. I’d been working there part time since I was 16 and when I turned 18, I got a notice to attend jury duty. I picked a week and I let my boss know.

The owner of the hotel found out (he was always a completely unreasonable jerk to all the employees) and sees me in the hallway and tells me that I need to do “whatever it takes” to get out of jury duty because he needs me at the hotel that week for a large dog-show, ..clogged drains..etc.

If I’m not at work, I’m fired.

When OP went to court he was asked if there was a reason he couldn’t serve, and he was so intimidated by the whole courtroom thing that he blurted out the truth.

When I get to jury duty, day 1, I get selected to a week-long trial, and the judge asks jurors if there’s any reason we cannot serve on the jury.

They go around… When they get to me, I’m nervous, never been in court before and too scared to lie. I tell the judge that the owner of the business I work at will fire me if I’m not back today and said I needed to do everything I can to get out of jury duty or I’m fired, other than that I’m fine serving.

The judge looks mad.

The judge had his big boss brought in in handcuffs and took him to task for his behavior.

The judge has me approach the bench, asks for the name of the owner, location, etc. Then he hands the court officer a paper and says something to the officer. (the judge still looks mad) I’m told to return to the jury box.

About an hour later (still selecting a jury), the officer returns with the owner, visibly shaken, in handcuffs and walked to the front of the judges bench. The owner is standing in front of the judge. The judge asks him questions which he apologetically tries to worm out of.

Then the judge (looking even more mad) instructs him that I will be here for jury duty, I will serve as long as I need to, and he should NOT do anything to retaliate against me — and that the judge is filing charges and will be instructing the clerk to check with me regularly and if, for any reason, I am fired or face any disciplinary action at work – he will hold the owner in contempt, violation of a court order, etc (a bunch of legal stuff) and he will spend time behind bars thinking about how important jury duty is.

Then the judge makes him apologize to me, in court!

OP served on the jury and returned to work, never to hear a word about the whole thing again.

I made it onto the jury and I served the week.

I reported back to work the following week. I expected some blowback, but I never got fired, none of my shifts were changed and I got paid for my time in jury – I didn’t ask why I got paid.

The clerk did check back a few times and I was told to call the judges clerk direct phone number if anything happened.

It was awesome, I was pretty much bullet-proof and worked until I saved enough to go back to school.

I bet Reddit is going to love this one!

A good lesson in civics.

This person says no one should be above the law.

According to these comments, this story is not as rare as you might think.

They say most judges are not to be trifled with.

Also, there’s a dress code, fools.

I suppose all’s well that ends well.

At least, as long as you don’t anger a judge.