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For stay-at-home mom Stephanie Pisula, jury duty looks a lot like chess.

Should there be an exception regarding child-care problems? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

One neighbor in place to look after 3-year-old Andrew. A fellow preschool parent to pick up 5-year-old Ellie. Another neighbor lined up to greet her eldest when the school day ends for 7-year-old Bradley.

And that's Day 1.

If she has to spend more time as a juror — checkmate.

"It's not like a 9-to-5 job," she says, "where my employer can excuse me."

Why aren't courts more family friendly, asks Pisula, 34, of Colfax. She was summoned to appear today for jury duty. Her husband is unable to take care of the children, so Pisula tried to get excused. She was told child care issues are not a valid reason.

Judges can grant excusals on a case-by-case basis for "compelling personal hardship or because requiring service would be contrary to the public welfare, health or safety," according to state law.

Few courts in North Carolina provide an out to parents, even if they're struggling to find child care. Randolph County is the only Piedmont court system with such an exception, according to a Web site that tracks family-friendly courts. Randolph court officials did not return calls this week to verify their rules.

Mecklenburg County's courthouse has an on-site day care center. It was created in part to help parents called for jury duty, said Todd Nuccio, trial court administrator.

Guilford hasn't had the money or space for a day care center, Chief District Court Judge Joseph Turner said. And precluding parents from jury pools would not be fair, he said.

"There are a lot of people that would fall in a circumstance where attending for jury service is difficult, either because of transportation problems or family care problems and so forth," Turner said.

"We try to be considerate in dealing with those (issues)," he said. "It's also a very important part of our system that all types of jurors are available so that a trial of our peers has a meaning."

Deferrals, which can last several months, are more likely to be granted than an excuse, which lasts two years, Turner said.

Each year, Guilford County calls about 60,000 prospective jurors. Only 30 percent to 35 percent show up, court data shows.

Most of those no-shows are because of bad addresses on the summons, said Jon Bellows, trial court administrator. A computerized system to go live in June or July should improve the process, he said.

For those who don't show up, judges can, and sometimes do, require no-shows to appear in court and give a good reason why. They also have issued fines and can order jail sentences to no-shows.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com