Etc...

Is this for me, Mommy?

In a given year, the office that's responsible for drafting people to serve on trial juries in Massachusetts' 14 counties issues roughly 1.2 million summonses. So it stands to reason that the staff will make a mistake once in a while. In fact, it did, just the other day ... when a summons arrived in the mail instructing Kaylee Reynolds of New Bedford to present herself for service at Taunton District Court bright and early June 30, a Friday. She probably won't, however, because there's a slight problem: Kaylee's attention span isn't great and, if empaneled, she might have difficulty following the testimony, the summations by the defense and prosecution, and the judge's instructions. Deciding how to vote on a verdict could be a challenge, too. Besides, she tends to be sleepy around midday and can be downright unpleasant if she doesn't take a nap. That's because she is ... 2. At this point, her mother speaks for her, and Patricia Reynolds's first thought was that the summons was a joke. "Then I read it," she said, "and I was like, 'Oookayyyy.'" As for the state jury commission, it's willing to give Kaylee a waiver until she's 18, the legal age for duty. "We apologize to the family for any inconvenience," director Pamela Wood said.