1y ago

Offences that won't get you out of jury duty in Ontario

What you need to know about the jury duty process and what to do if you’re selected.

Started reading up on this after receiving a jury summons and this list of minor offences that will not get you off the hook is fascinating! For example:

Possessing reproductive materials of cetaceans, except for licensed scientific research – Section 445.2(2)(c)

So… that whale penis they found in your fridge is not gonna cut it then? You must still serve on the jury?

5 comments

Breaching a court prohibition order related to a bestiality offence — Section 160(5)
That doesn't seem right...

Ya just gotta wonder how the cetacean one got on the books in the first place. I mean, was somebody running around randomly impregnating whales with stolen sperm at some point?
- I’m reading this as not only have many people apparently received this offense but enough of them have tried to use it as an excuse to get out of jury duty that they had to add it to the list of non-excusable offenses.
  
  Could it be that they're committing the crime after receiving the summons? Imagine the thought process.
  Oh man, a summons! How do I get out of this?!? Maybe if I commit a crime? But it can't be anything too major. Don't wanna wind up on the receiving end of a jury trial! So no hard drug trafficking, for example. But maybe something a little more random and obscure? Like… like… whale sperm? Is there a black market for that?
  And then it spreads by word of mouth.
  "Dude, you got summoned? My cousin, he got out of it by trafficking whale sperm…"