Can you elect not to serve on a jury by ignoring a summons?

Can you elect not to serve on a jury by ignoring a summons?

Iloilo Jones (Executive Director of Fully Informed Jury Association) gives expert video advice on: What are legal ways to get out of jury duty?; Are some professions exempt from jury duty?; How do I apply my exemption? and more...

If you get a summons to serve, to go, to report for jury duty you really can't just toss it in the waste basket. You really can't decide on your own that you're just not going to show up. You're just going to ignore the summons. Don't do that. You could be held in contempt of court. They could issue a warrant for the sheriff to come out and get you to take you to court and appear before the judge who's going to say, "What the heck is wrong with you? We sent you a notice. If you couldn't come, you know there's a number on there to call, there was an address. There was a way for you to get in touch with us. Why did you not show up?" and they may fine you or they may, you know make you do city volunteer work or something like that. That's usually what they do, they make you do volunteer work in the community. But, we need you to show up for jury duty. So don't throw away that summons. Go and serve so that you can do your part to be part of our government and make it work the way you want it to.