About a dozen people, walking around town and minding their own business, found themselves in Superior Court marshals’ custody last week, summoned to jury duty.
Superior Court Judge Brenda Hollar told the St. John Source the action was legal, "Occasionally it happens," she explained. A St. Thomas attorney called the roundup "kidnapping … that will taint the jury pool" when they are called for cases the following week.
One construction worker said he was waiting outside Woody’s Seafood Saloon in Cruz Bay when a marshal asked to see his driver’s license and said, "You’ve been summoned to jury duty. Get in the van."
It may be legal, but it sound outrageous ! Can someone please explain how it can be legal ? Thank you.
There’s nothing in the code that prohibits serving a randomly-selected juror with a summons to appear immediately for jury duty.
That said, the VI Source story certainly suggested that the marshals were randomly selecting people off the street, not off a list of summonses which they were serving. If the latter is correct, I don’t think it *was* legal.