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A pre-K student in Connecticut was mistakenly summoned for jury duty after officials suspected her name was pulled from the one agency database without birthdays.
Zara Ibrahimi, 4, is just starting to read on her own. Her favorite color is pink, so she dresses accordingly from head to toe.
She was also called to report for jury duty in early February.
When the tyke’s father, Dr. Omar Ibrahimi, opened the letter from the Connecticut Judicial Branch ordering jury service, he assumed it was intended for himself.
But instead, Zara’s name was printed on the paper.
“We told her, we said ‘Zara, you got called for jury duty’ and then she looked over and she said ‘I’m just a baby!’,” Ibrahimi recounted to News 12 Connecticut.
“A mistake was made somehow or another, and I’m sure they’re not going to bring her in for jury duty,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Connecticut Judicial Branch, which oversees the state Jury Administration, told the outlet that Zara’s name was likely thrown into the ring “through the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services” — notably the “only agency that doesn’t provide birth dates.”
Still, Ibrahimi completed the required forms and sheepishly marked that Zara hadn’t completed high school, since it was the education option closest to her looming preschool graduation.
“It probably would’ve been pretty cute [for Zara to be a juror], but I’m sure she’ll be ready to fulfill her civic duty in about 15 more years,” Ibrahimi said.
Officials assured that Zara will have “no problem” being excused from jury duty.
Zara isn’t the first youngster to receive a summons.
In 2018, a 4-year-old boy in Pennsylvania was ordered to report, but was excused on the grounds that he had preschool that day.
In 2000, a 9-year-old girl from Brooklyn with an aptitude for mock trials was coincidentally summoned — and was even mailed a jury pass despite her parents’ attempts to notify the courts of the mistake.
“I’m the only kid I’ve ever known who has been called up,” she bragged.
“Last time around I was not so into the idea of sitting on a jury, but now I’m in fourth grade I know even more about courts. I have learned all about plaintiffs, judges, jurors, defendants and clerks,” she added.
English (US)