Street Jury

WELD COUNTY, Colo. -- Some folks who just happened to be out on the streets of Greeley got a surprise Wednesday morning. They were handed a subpeona for jury duty.

Court officials say they summoned 200 people to report for jury duty on Wednesday, but only 39 people showed up. The court had to improvise. "It's sad when we as citizens don't accept our obligations," said Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck.

Weld County officials said this is the second time this week they've had a problem seating a jury.

"It is a great inconvenience for the prosecution, the defendant, the defense counsel, the staff, the judge, witnesses, many of which have come in from out of town to testify in the case, so it's a huge inconvenience to a lot of people when jurors don't show up and for the jurors summoned forthwith off the street, it's an inconvenience to them as well," said Buck.

When you can't seat a jury, court cases can't move forward, he said.

It delays the entire judicial process and Buck believes it's everyone's duty.

"It's an obligation to sit on our jury because our judicial system guarantees justice," said Buck.

This isn't the only time there has been a problem with jurors showing up. It also happened in December.