The story last week on the front page of the Merced Sun-Star about the Mariposa County judge sending bailiffs to the local post office to round up jurors was quite a talker.</p><p>Mariposa residents found out when a third don't show, somebody else is drafted.</p><p>Most people didn't realize that judges have the power to conscript jurors. It's not something that happens often, but it is legal. It was probably practiced more in the old West, before we had computerized voter registration rolls.</p><p>That's how they used to round up posses, too: Got a gun and a horse? You'll be gone a few days, chasing down the bad guys.</p><p>Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse has sympathy for the judge. But he said he's never heard of Civil Code 211 being used in the 17 years he's worked in Merced County courts.</p><p>But Presiding Superior Court Judge Dana Walton really had no choice when a third of the jury summons were ignored that were mailed out for the trial of a man charged with killing a 60-year-old man in Greeley Hill in 2008.</p><p>With a population of less than 20,000, Mariposa County has a very small jury pool. With a homicide trial expected to last from two to three weeks, it can put a burden on potential jurors.</p><p>The folks who were swept up by the bailiffs at the post office weren't too happy about it. But neither was the judge. "This is an aberration," the judge said. He's never had to do it in his nine years on the bench in Mariposa County.</p><p>Through it all, most of the drafted jurors said they would be able to serve, Walton said. "That was pretty heartening."</p><p>We're sure that everyone who got a jury summons probably thought to themselves: "What difference does it make if I don't show up? What'll they do to me?"</p><p>If it was just one or two perspective jurors, the judge probably would have let it slide. But when a third of the jurors don't show up, that's another matter.</p><p>Judge Walton says the fines for ignoring a jury summons are $250 for the first offense, $750 for the second offense and $1,500 for the third. Oh yeah, you can also get up to five days in the county jail.</p><p>Everyone has a right to a jury trial. And every citizen has a duty to serve on a jury if called.</p><p>If the judge was so inclined, he could probably give tiny Mariposa County a healthy cash reserve from all those fines.</p><p>(Read the complete story at http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/1088675.html)