Cat Summoned for Jury Duty, Not Excused

In what is perhaps the most absurd illustration of the inflexibility of bureaucracy, or, perhaps a most curious example of anthropomorphism…

Exhibit A: a domestic, short-haired feline, named Sal Esposito, received a summons to report for jury duty earlier this month.

Long-time Boston, Massachusetts residents Anna and Guy Esposito believe that this mix-up stems from the couples’ listing of Sal on the 2010 Census as a “household resident”…but as a pet. However, neither the fact that Sal is a cat, nor Anna’s letter informing the court of this fact, persuaded the court to excuse Sal from reporting for jury duty.

Read the story Cat Summoned for Jury Duty, Not Excused for Being a Cat.

A lawyer friend and cat lover pointed out one other curious thing about this story: the fact that somehow the court got a hold of the census data — data that should not be available for public records searches for 75 years. There’s no mention that Sal the cat was listed, last name and all, on any other public document(s), so, it seems like the census is the likely source of this info.

Wonder if anyone else picks up on this, or, will care much. I suspect most folks — apart from thinking up bad cat jokes (like: will the case be a feliny?) — are wondering how far this cat-in-the-jury-pool, comedy of errors will progress…perhaps soon, someone will be placing bets on a hung jury.

This news item was brought to my attention via Dietz the Cat’s Facebook page.