Darien Preschooler Called For Jury Duty: 'I'm Just A Baby!'

DARIEN, CT — When Dr. Omar Ibrahimi got home after a long day of work on Monday he picked up the mail from his mailbox and headed inside his home in Darien, but one envelope caught his eye.

It was an envelope from the Connecticut Judicial Branch, with big letters saying "Jury Summons."

"You always get these at the worst possible time," Ibrahimi told Patch this week. "My heart sank, and I thought it was either me or my wife."

But after further inspection, the envelope wasn't addressed to Ibrahimi or his wife, Sadi.

It was for the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Zara.

"I did a double take, and I was like, 'Oh, why does it say my daughter's name on it?' I started rubbing my eyes and I opened it up, and it was obviously some sort of mistake," Ibrahimi said. "I texted my wife and said, 'Good news, bad news. The bad news is we got a jury summons. The good news is it's not you or me."

A spokesperson from the CT Judicial Branch told Patch that each year, a list of potential jurors is created combining names from four source lists -- the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Central Voter Registry of the Secretary of State, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Revenue Services, and that Jury Administration summons people based on the information that is provided.

Individuals are then randomly selected for jury service from the list created by this process.

"The Department of Revenue Services supplies Jury Administration with the most recent updated lists of residents of this state who have a permanent place of abode in this state and who filed a return on personal income under Chapter 229 in the last tax year," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "The list includes the name and address of residents, but not their date of birth. Occasionally, an individual under 18 years of age will be on the list. When this happens the individual who is summoned is excused from jury service."

The ordeal turned into an educational moment for little Zara, who was confused at first.

"I was explaining to her [jury duty is] where there's a group of 12 people, they sit and they listen to people talk about something that happened, and they have to decide if a person is guilty, not guilty, right, or wrong," Ibrahimi said. "She looked at me with this funny expression, and she goes, 'I'm just a baby!' She's used that many times to get out of trouble, so she defaulted to that answer. It was pretty hilarious."

Another laugh came when Ibrahimi was exploring ways to report the mistake. While going through the summons forms, Ibrahimi noticed the question, "What is your highest level of education?"

"Clearly they don't have a choice for preschool," Ibrahimi said, noting he checked "did not complete high school."

"We got some chuckles out of it, which was nice. You have to keep a sense of humor about these things," Ibrahimi added.

Zara is excused from jury duty, for now. When the next summons comes in the mail, she'll be prepared.

"She knows what the civic duty is, and she'll be ready to do it in about 14-15 more years," Ibrahimi said.

The CT Judicial Branch spokesperson said Jury Administration has a live call center and is available to assist and answer any questions that a juror or their parents may have. More information on Jury Administration can be found here.