About 1,800 New Castle County residents have received unusually urgent jury duty summons.
The News Journal reports that officials are blaming a system error for summons giving people less than two weeks' notice, instead of the usual month. They also received an unusual letter apologizing for the short notice “due to certain circumstances.”
Superior Court Administrator Maureen Frederick says a “system error” related to drawing potential jurors from a new list of Delaware drivers and voters meant more than a week of juror summonses weren't sent out. It is unclear whether it was a computer or human error.
“We apologize for any inconvenience,” Frederick told the paper. “These things happen.”
Once the mistake was discovered, Frederick says the urgent notices were sent to make sure the Superior Court had enough prospective jurors.
