Cat, Sal Esposito, Called To Jury Duty In Boston (VIDEO)

Boston resident Sal Esposito recently got called in for jury duty. He might have some problems performing this required task, though, as Sal is a cat.

The problem arose after owners Anna and Guy Esposito listed him on the last U.S. Census under "pet."

Anna filed for his disqualification of service. He was not "too old," "ill," or a "convicted felon," so she filed that he "cannot speak English."

The jury commissioner denied this request.

According to WHDH Local News, Sal was still expected at Suffolk Superior Court on March 23.

The following video from KGW.com details the report.

WATCH:

Editor's Note: This story was first reported in January of 2010.

Comments

[Jim Dineen]

09:20 AM on 01/27/2011

What I want to know is what happened to the cat?
Did he eventually have to serve on a jury?
I mean it is a great day for animal rights that a cat gets to serve on a jury but is the cat really considered a peer? And was the cat adequately compensated for his time on the jury?
Did one of the human's have to act as a translator for the cat?
How did the cat end up on the jury selection pool?
Does he have a state issued ID?
Is he registered to vote? Did he vote?

they never tell you the rest of the story. Seems to me that a cat sitting on a jury would make some news. At least one book deal anyway.

[Kathleen Shimp]

11:17 AM on 01/22/2011

Glad to read the editor's note- at first I was thinking this had happened again with another cat!

[Andrew Beckman]

04:22 PM on 01/18/2011

Finally, liberation is near!

[folin]

03:30 PM on 01/18/2011

This is fake. It's from an article on The Spoof: http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i89827

[Stephen Gillespie]

08:25 AM on 01/19/2011

Did you read the editor's note at the bottom of the article? The report was originally from 2010, the story is a year old. http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO133130/

It outdates the Spoof article which, btw, does not necessarily totally make up news, it simply spoofs real news most of the time.

[folin]

03:29 PM on 01/18/2011

This is fake. A quick google search returns an article on thespoof.com: thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i89827

[MrPacMan]

10:12 AM on 01/18/2011

I would watch that court case live just to see how it will go. xD

[amantedelibros]

08:19 PM on 01/17/2011

I was just summoned for jury duty. It would sure make my day if a cat or dog were called up with me :)

[Christopher Koulouris]

12:17 AM on 01/17/2011

We’re just glad that Sal is a cat. At least they’re known to have some sense of intelligence. God forbid that Sal was a goldfish. At least if the defendant is innocent Sal can purr, and if they are guilty- a simple hiss would suffice.

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2011/01/anna-and-guy-esposito-are-told-that-their-cat-must-still-perform-jury-duty/

[WoodsideCraig]

10:48 PM on 01/16/2011

Sal has been cat-apulted into a cat-aclysmic cat-astrophe that may eventually be cat-egorized as a cat-alyst for later cat-aloging.

What's the matter judge? Cat got your tongue?

[mamacat]

10:13 PM on 01/16/2011

Did Sal purrform his civic duty? Or was the whole thing a cat-astrophy?

[mudshark12]

08:43 PM on 01/16/2011

Meow for innocent and hiss for guilty?

[ThinkCreeps]

05:45 PM on 01/16/2011

The cat's just going to play with the accused for a few days, then kill him slowly and leave the body on his owner's pillow.

[mamacat]

05:08 PM on 01/16/2011

My partner and I have discussed declaring our pets as dependents, briefly.

[rbenjamin]

09:09 PM on 01/15/2011

Sal's owners should let him serve and just pocket the per diem.

[amantedelibros]

08:20 PM on 01/17/2011

Can you imagine sitting in court, looking over at the jury box and finding a cat sitting there? LOL That would be classic!

[JDIQ]

10:48 AM on 01/15/2011

If they release a bench warrant on the cat for failing to appear in court, I'm moving off the planet.

[Anne Mccormick]

03:05 AM on 01/16/2011

if a bench warrant is released then i think the owners should comply. bring Sal the cat to court. if any official says anything then the owners tell him/her that they are simply complying with the bench warrant.

[ThinkCreeps]

05:44 PM on 01/16/2011

You'll probably come back once they toss the cat's owners in jail for contempt.