Teen gets Marion County summons to serve on jury

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At 14, Thomas Wall is mature beyond his years. He is involved in his community, too, participating in band, robotics and scouting.

But jury duty?

Yep, the Speedway High School freshman on Monday received a summons in the mail to serve on a jury in Marion County.

Thomas, who turns 15 on Nov. 16, is sorry he is too young to serve. Only adults can serve as jurors.

"I would have just looked at both sides and followed along and seen what I thought was true or right," he told The Indianapolis Star. "I'm kind of interested in the legal system."

His father, Dennis Wall, 53, retrieved the summons Monday from the mailbox.

"On the one hand, I thought it would be a really good learning experience for him," Wall said, chuckling. "On the other hand, I thought, 'Why is it I am getting a jury summons for my 14-year-old?' I mean, what's going on Downtown that that's happening?"

Wall thought about just taking his son to report for duty.

"He'd make a heck of a juror," Wall said. "I would love to see the look on their faces if I just took him down there."

Instead, Wall left a message Monday on the voice mail of a court administrator, explaining what had happened. He will wait to hear back, he said.

"This is one for the books," Wall said.

It's not the first time a teenager in Wall's family has received a jury summons in Indianapolis. The same thing happened a while ago to his nephew.

A spokeswoman for the Indiana Supreme Court said such erroneous summonses are known to occur.

"This sort of thing happens every so often," Kathryn Dolan said.

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