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Tuesday, October 1, 1996
District Clerk forgets to summon jurors
By ANTHONY WILSON
Staff Writer
The judge had carved a spot in his docket. The prosecution and
defense were ready. Sheriff's deputies had delivered the defendant
to the Taylor County courthouse. The witnesses were under subpoena.
Only one thing was missing in the trial of the state of Texas
vs. Clive Collier Curry Jr.
No jury, no justice.
For the first time in memory, a trial was postponed because the
district clerk's office failed to summon jurors.
The office routinely issues jury summons for each Monday weeks
in advance. But it forgot to account for September's rare fifth
Monday yesterday.
Curry, charged 12 months ago with unlawfully possessing a firearm,
may have to wait another two months for a new trial date.
"We're sorry, of course," District Clerk JoAnn Lackey
said. "We hated it, but those things happen. We all make
mistakes. I'm sure it will never happen again."
According to court records, Curry has been convicted twice of
theft and once for aggravated robbery in the past 20 years. Though
convicted felons aren't allowed to possess firearms, Curry allegedly
had four when arrested Sept. 4 of last year: a .22-caliber revolver,
a single-shot rifle and two semi-automatic rifles.
Though Assistant District Attorney Robert Harper subpoenaed six
witnesses for the trial, the prosecutor shrugged off the summonsing
snafu.
"It's not a big deal," Harper said. "We'll just
have to go another day."
All content copyright 1996, Anthony Wilson,The
Abilene Reporter-News and Reporter OnLine
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