When jury duty strikes, it's hard to get out of it. One breastfeeding mom decided to do fulfill her jury duty as well as her duties as a mom and brought her baby boy with her. The mom has since been charged with contempt of court for bringing her son to court.
Laura Trickle, of Lee's Summit, Mo., initally hoped the judge would excuse her from jury duty because she did want to interrupt her son's breastfeeding schedule. Since that didn't happen and she had no one to leave him with anyway, Trickle took her baby boy to court, reported local station KCTV.
On September 3, she appeared for jury duty with her child, but according to the ensuing court order, she 'willfully and contemptuously appeared for jury service with her child and no one to care for the child'.
"You're not allowed to have children there for jury duty," Trickle said. "I've never even had a speeding ticket, so I have zero experience with legal issues."
Trickle said her 7-month-old son, Axel Graham has to be with her to eat. The judge did not excuse her from jury duty.
"I would be able to pump on breaks. Unfortunately Axel doesn't take a bottle, so that was not an option for us. The other option was to have someone stay with me all day and then be able to nurse on breaks. But since I'm a stay-at-home mom, we don't have childcare," she said.
Trickle is now facing contempt and up to a $500 fine.
Trickle told the Kansas City Star she's not trying to get out of jury service.
"The issue is the timing," she said. "I just can't do it right now."
Other states have laws to exempt breastfeeding mothers from jury duty. Legislation is on the table to add such an exemption in Missouri.
