Legal Definitions - jury process

The jury process refers to the comprehensive system and specific steps courts use to identify, notify, and ensure the attendance of citizens called for jury duty. It includes both the administrative procedures involved in summoning potential jurors and the official documents, such as summonses, that compel their presence in court.

• Example 1: Initial Notification

  Imagine a citizen, Ms. Chen, receives an official letter in the mail from her local courthouse. This letter is a jury summons, instructing her to appear on a specific date for potential jury service. The act of sending this summons, and Ms. Chen receiving it, is a direct part of the jury process, as it's the initial step in compelling her attendance and initiating the procedure for her participation.

• Example 2: Ensuring Attendance

  A court administrator notices that several individuals who were sent jury summonses for an upcoming trial date have not responded. The administrator then initiates a procedure to send follow-up notices or, in some cases, court orders to those individuals, reminding them of their legal obligation and the potential consequences of failing to appear. This entire sequence of identifying non-responders and taking steps to ensure their compliance falls under the jury process, specifically demonstrating how attendance is enforced.

• Example 3: Systemic Management

  The state's judicial council publishes its annual report detailing how it draws names from various public records (like voter registration and driver's license databases) to create a master list of eligible jurors. The report also describes the automated system used to randomly select individuals from this list, print and mail summonses, and manage the daily pool of potential jurors for all trial courts across the state. This overarching system and its detailed steps represent the broader jury process, illustrating the systematic procedure by which jurors are summoned and managed.