Refusing Jury Duty Gets Costly

D.C. DRUG LEGALIZATION ACTIVISTS FACE $100-A-DAY FINES

Two advocates for the legalization of drugs who have refused to report
for jury service in the District were found in contempt of court
yesterday and soon could be facing hefty fines.

David Borden and David A. Guard, leaders of an advocacy group that
runs the Web site StoptheDrugWar.org, say they will not participate in
a criminal justice system that makes drugs illegal. Yesterday they
found out the consequences at a hearing called by Rufus G. King III,
the chief judge of D.C. Superior Court.

Starting Monday, Borden, the group's executive director, and Guard,
the associate director, will each have to pay $100 a day for every
court day they refuse to report for jury duty. The ruling by King
stunned the two men, who said they expected that they might be sent to
jail for a few days and even fined -- but not indefinitely.

"We were taken by surprise," Borden said.

After the hearing, sitting in the courthouse cafeteria, Borden and
Guard contemplated their next step.

"At this point, we don't know what will happen," Borden
said.

They could ask the judge to reconsider the contempt finding; they
could appeal his decision; or they could start paying the fine, which
would be paid into the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. They also
could report for jury duty, but they did not seem inclined to do that.

In recent years, D.C. Superior Court has redoubled efforts to make
sure people heed jury summonses. It is a measure of the importance of
those efforts that jurors who fail to show up ultimately end up before
King, the court's top judge.

With one of the busiest dockets in the country, D.C. Superior Court
needs lots of prospective jurors, and an average of 236 people a day,
or more than 46,000 a year, report for service.

But with so many short-time residents, relative to other cities, D.C.
presents unusual challenges in pulling in a pool of jurors large
enough and diverse enough to conduct trials fairly and promptly.

Borden and Guard say that they understand the importance of jury
service and that they respect people who participate. But they say the
effects of the drug war -- namely the incarceration of hundreds of
thousands of people on drug charges -- demand radical action.

"I saw this as a necessary act of civil disobedience," Borden
said.

Called for jury service last year, the two men have been exchanging
letters with the court and with King for several months, with the
activists explaining their refusal to report and the court explaining
its unwillingness to accept such an excuse.

Given their history of advocacy, neither Borden nor Guard would likely
be picked to serve on a jury in a drug case. But they say the issue is
broader and not simply a matter of whether they would be picked to
serve. It is about spurring change in a system that has so far
resisted it.

"At a certain point, merely advocating at the legislative level and
educationally as I've done for 10 years is no longer enough," Borden
said.