By Billy Davis

A phone call warning people they have been fined $500 for missing jury duty is a prank call, Panola County Circuit Clerk Melissa Meek-Phelps said last week.

In the call, a man from the “National Justice Center” claims the listener must pay the fine or choose a 30-day jail sentence. But if the listener pays close attention until the end, the man advises there is a third option: forward the prank phone call to other “gullible” friends.

Apparently there are gullible friends who heed a warning from the National Justice Center.    

Deputy Circuit Clerk Nickie Denley said the county office has heard from only a few people — including a woman who drove from Jackson to the courthouse — who believed the warning was real.  

“There haven’t been many but the ones we heard from, they called us in a panic,” Denley said.

“They have been extremely upset,” agreed Phelps. “They were freaking out.”

Phelps said she hopes potential jurors take a jury summons seriously, since it’s a request for their civic duty. But she stressed that any warning about punishment will not come from her office.

Skipping out of jury duty can result in a $500 fine or three days in jail according to Mississippi law, but punishment is rarely imposed and would come at the discretion of a circuit judge — not the National Justice Center.