9-Year-Old Called for Jury Duty Twice
Jacob Clark has been called up for jury duty twice but has never had to actually serve the summons. Why? He's only nine years old.
The boy from Massachusetts had no idea that he was supposed to report to the courthouse.
"What's a jury duty?" he asked. After a discussion with his parents, Jacob was finally able to understand. "If you're picked, then you go up to a judge and you say if they're guilty or not guilty," he told CNN.
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The state's jury commissioner reports that Jacob's birth year is listed as 1982, not 1992, thus making him 30 and eligible for jury duty.
"If he was born in '82, then I would have been his father when I was two years old, so it doesn't make sense to me," explained Jacob's father Robert.
Jacob's family says that he received his first jury duty summons came when he was only two years old.
"I think he'd do well," Robert told CNN. "I think he's impartial. He'd be able to be objective, as long as there was no jury tampering. If someone offered him an Xbox game, he would do as he's asked, but besides that, he's a very impartial kid."
"I looked at it and said, 'This is ridiculous!'" Jacob's grandmother told the Cape Cod Times. Then later, she said she asked if he actually wanted to go to the courthouse.
"I said it's a day off from school and you get lunch," said the grandmother. "He goes, 'I want to be a police officer so maybe this will help me.'"
People across the country are reacting to the news of Jacob's summonses with surprise and awe.
"How messed up is America? A nine-year-old boy got called to jury duty twice," said Elian Gonzalez.
"This nine-year-old boy got summoned for jury duty. He can't even read the letter!" exclaimed Amber W.
Rest assured that when he turns 18, Jacob will be ready, willing and able to serve.
