Indiana teen accidentally summoned for jury duty

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - A 14-year-old southwestern Indiana girl recently received a jury summons questionnaire in error.

Evansville eighth-grader Keely Elsner got the summons from Vanderburgh Circuit Court despite being four years too young to serve on an Indiana jury, the Courier & Press reported .

She received the notice due to "a glitch in the system," according to county and state officials.

State software pulls names for jury selection from voter registration rolls, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Revenue. Keely is featured on the latter two lists and somehow her date of birth was overlooked, said Michelle Goodman, an attorney in the state's Office of Court Services.

The teen said she was initially excited by the letter and "thought it was pretty cool."

"Then when I thought about it a little more, I wasn't so sure," she said. "I learned that you could be deciding what this person's life could be."

Her parents were first concerned that their daughter's identity had been stolen. When they realized it was a glitch, they said they used the experience to teach Keely about the responsibility of sitting on a jury.

"We've learned a little bit about the court system and how the whole jury process works," said Amy Elsner, Keely's mother. "That has been the good thing about it."

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com