Mr. T Reports for Jury Duty, Gets Passed Over by Judge

Try to Spell 'Justice' Without a 'T', Fool!

When it comes to celebrities and the brushes with government that all citizens face, there are some things that are hard to picture, like Prince standing in line at the DMV. But the city of Chicago was robbed of a civic duty match made in heaven on Monday, when Mr. T reported for jury duty, only to be passed over by the judge.

Mr. T showed up in the halls of Chicago's Cook County Criminal Court in camouflage pants, sounding like a public service announcement you might have heard during a prime-time commercial break in 1985, telling gatherers: "It's not about 'The A-Team', it's the J-Team -- the jury team," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

But dreams of tense jury deliberations peppered with Mr. T's patented growls and scowls were dashed when, after a five hour selection process, a jury was seated -- not a Mohawk hairstyle among them. No reason was given for the decision, but you'd think that once Mr. T was reunited with his wheelbarrow full of jewelry after passing through courthouse security, everything else would have been smooth sailing.

Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud) did walk away with $17.20 just for reporting to the courthouse and hanging around for the judge's decision, the Sun-Times reports, which is $17.20 more than Amy Winehouse makes for doing the exact same thing most Mondays.

• Chicago Sun-Times: 'I Pity the Fool': Mr. T on Jury Duty
• Taking Time Off for Jury Duty and Voting (FindLaw)
• What If I Am Called for Jury Duty? (FindLaw)
• Mr. T's Latest Project: "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" (IMDB.com)