The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Steve Edwards

BCJ News

Reporter's note: Last June I received a "notice of selection for jury panel" and a "questionnaire as to qualification for jury service" from the 17th Montana District Court. The letter told me I would be on a jury panel from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016-meaning I could be summoned to serve on a jury in state court during that year.

I was called this past April for jury duty to the Blaine County District Court. I was one of about 125 summoned, but wasn't selected for the questioning stage. I decided to learn more about the possible juries a Blaine County citizen could be called to serve. Turns out there are three possibilities: Justice of the Peace Court, Blaine County District Court and Federal District Court, and for some, the possibility of Chinook or Harlem City Courts. Here's a bit of what I learned and what fellow citizens can expect regarding jury duty.

Some commonalities among

the ways juries operate

The Justice Court (Justice of the Peace) and the Blaine County District Court serve all residents of the county and can call citizens for jury duty. Residents of Harlem or Chinook could also be called for jury duty in a city court, though jury trials in city courts are rare. The Federal District Court, which covers the entire state, handles federal cases and can also call citizens for jury duty.

Jury panels. All three courts create jury panels-groups of randomly selected citizens from which prospective jurors can be called during a set period of time. In the Justice and Blaine County District Court names come from lists of registered voters and people with a valid driver's license and Montana Identification cards. Those names are provided to the clerks of the two courts who use a computer program to randomly select people to make up the current panel. Each year the Justice Court creates a panel of 300 names and the Blaine County District Court has a panel with 500 potential jurors.

The Federal District Court selects panels of jurors for two years. The Montana Federal Judicial District is geographically the largest district in the country. To reduce the distances people with federal court business and jurors must drive, Montana has five federal court locations and five separate jury panels. Those selected for jury duty from Blaine County would go to Great Falls to serve.

Questionnaires. Once names are drawn for the panels, the prospective jurors receive a questionnaire by mail. The responses to the questions help court officials learn something about prospective jurors. The Blaine County District Court questionnaire is a single page and asks for basic data, like age and type of employment and whether the respondent has family in law enforcement or in the legal profession. A Federal District Court questionnaire is more detailed and asks a lot of questions about the respondent's opinions on specific legal issues that are part of a specific trial.

Other questions give the respondent the opportunity to request excusal from jury duty. Excusal reasons vary by courts. In the federal court there are certain types of occupations that exclude potential jurors. In the state courts, personal "chronic incapacitation" or "undue hardship" can be reasons for being excused from jury duty. Most courts have a provision for excusal. As one court clerk put it, "We aren't trying to be punitive, we are flexible but we need information from prospective jurors about conflicts or problems they foresee." Do you have to complete a questionnaire when you receive one? One clerk noted, "You don't avoid jury service just because you don't complete and return the questionnaire. We'll summon you and tell you to bring the questionnaire with you to court." A federal official who works with jury selection wrote that about thirty percent of the questionnaires sent out for a new federal panel are returned because the addressee has moved.

Jurors called for a

specific trial

When a jury is needed for a trial in a city, Justice, State District or Federal District court, a court official randomly selects names from the panel of potential jurors. The number of jurors varies by the court and the type of case. In Justice Court, the court of limited jurisdiction, juries have six members and 35-50 names will be drawn to make the pool for a specific trial. The Blaine County District Court, typically, will draw about 100 names for a jury trial. A federal jury administrator told that she, "Works with the judge for an upcoming case to decide how big a pool of jurors we might need. Then we write the letters to summon enough potential jurors to the courthouse."

The process for choosing a jury is known as voir dire-literally meaning "to tell the truth." Generally, a set number of prospective jurors is pulled aside from those summoned and questioned. At the federal level, a lot of the questions are posed by the judge, in state courts the lawyers for the two sides pose most of the questions. The questions are asked to assure prospective jurors can make an unbiased decision on the facts of the case. (There is an interesting exercise that gives a chance to experience the voir dire questioning. Try it at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/20/nyregion/jury-duty-quiz.html)

As the lawyers and judge ask questions of the prospective jurors, the pool begins to shrink. Some prospective jurors will be excused because they know or are related to someone involved as a party to the case, but most important is if the juror can be fair and listen to the witnesses and their testimony and judge the facts of the case. Sometimes a prospective juror has a conflict-the day I was called one juror was excused because he had a major welding test the next day in a college program he was taking. Another person was excused because of medications they were on and how it affected their ability to sit for extended periods. The process of excusing and striking jurors finally results in a jury of the desired number.

Some prospective jurors hope to avoid jury duty because they fear they will be 'tied up' for a long period of time. The clerks of the various courts said rarely do trials in Montana last beyond a week and the majority conclude in two to four days. And what are your chances of being called for jury service? That answer has a lot of variables, but in a typical year about 0.09 percent of U.S. adults are called for jury service and 0.02 percent end up serving on a jury. In a lifetime, it's estimated that 27 percent of U.S. adults will serve on a jury. Short answer is: your chances of serving on a jury are fairly low.

So, what's the consequence for not showing up if summoned for jury duty? The short answer is, "You could be subject to a legal penalty-fine or jail time." Reality of what happens seems to vary among the courts. Some courts will send law enforcement officers to bring a juror to the courthouse. That doesn't seem to happen often. In fact, one court official said, "The system works because most people recognize jury duty is a privilege and a civic obligation. Even the reluctant jurors called to serve on a jury do so and, usually, feel good about the experience."

The "Journal" thanks all those good and willing citizens who serve as jurors and help make sure our justice system works as envisioned.