Jury duty: Understanding a cornerstone of the U.S. justice system

Dec. 26—Multiple counties in the region, including Nez Perce County, have reported jury scams, which ignore the way the system actually works.

Nez Perce County clerk/auditor Patty Weeks, who handles jury selection for Nez Perce County, described the process for getting picked for jury duty, and 2nd District Judge Mark Monson explained how jurors go through a trial to help give area residents an idea on how those elements work in Nez Perce County.

Creating a jury pool

People are selected for jury duty through different databases that pull from licensing at Idaho Transportation Department, auto licenses and voter registration. People are only selected for jury duty for the county they live in. Those individuals then make up the master pool for jury selection that is refreshed from time to time.

To figure how many people need to be called in for jury duty, Weeks and her office looks at the trial schedule to figure how many potential jurors are needed. For a bigger case, like a murder, more than 100 jurors could be asked to show up. For more routine cases, like possession of a controlled substance, they might call 50 people to serve.

Once the amount is determined, people are randomly selected to fill the number of jurors needed for the month, which is how long jury service is in Nez Perce County. The report is then sent to a company who mails out a jury duty notice to the “lucky” people, Weeks said.

“The thing about jury duty is it’s completely random,” Weeks said. “It’s really important that we have people from all sorts of occupations. It’s what makes the system work the best.”

Even judges get selected for jury duty. Monson received a summons for jury duty last February and had to call in every week, just like everybody else. He showed up for jury selection on a case that he was presiding over. He didn’t end up serving on the jury.

The summons for jury duty usually comes in the mail a month before the date of service, Monson noted. For example, if someone has jury duty in February, the summons will come in January. The jury duty notice will have “Nez Perce County” on the return address and say “jury summons” on it. The notice also comes with a form people can fill out or mail back, drop off at the courthouse or complete online.

The form includes questions such as whether or not the person is a U.S. citizen, resident of Nez Perce County, if they know someone in law enforcement or if they have a criminal record. Weeks said the questions never ask for people’s social security number or bank account information. People have a certain time frame to fill out and return the letter. If people don’t return the jury summons within that time, “we send out a nasty letter,” Weeks said.

The letter requires immediate completion of the form. Weeks said there isn’t a fine or jail time. People can’t pay money to get out of jury duty, either.

Once someone is selected for jury duty, the county has a system with texts and robo calls to remind people to show up for court. People can also call in and look at the website.

“So we have multiple layers of opportunities to communicate,” Weeks said.

If someone wants to serve on a jury they could come in or call the courthouse and ask to be on a jury panel or have their name resubmitted.

“You’d be very unique if you did that, but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t,” Monson said.

Showing up for jury selection

When someone arrives for jury duty, usually they will come in at 8:30 a.m., sign in and watch a video. Then they will be seated and a clerk will do a roll call of the jury. If someone doesn’t show up for jury duty, Weeks said the first thing that happens is the court will start calling people to tell them to come to the courthouse. Most of the time Weeks said people forgot or got sick.

If someone is absent, Monson usually gives the person time to report back by 5 p.m. If they don’t report back a judge can issue an order to show cause. Oftentimes a letter is required to explain why they missed jury duty. Then the judge will review the letter and determine if they are excused or if there’s going to be a show of cause hearing for their absence at jury duty. If there is a hearing, they will receive a summons in the mail.

“There is no quick way to just pay money and get out of trouble,” Weeks said. “This is the justice system, there are steps that have to be followed.”

If someone doesn’t show up or can’t provide good cause, then they are subject to a fine not to exceed $500 or can go to jail for five days. Monson said no one wants to issue fines or jail time for people not showing up to jury duty.

Instead Monson suggests that people contact the courthouse beforehand to get their jury service postponed or rescheduled if there’s going to be a preplanned issue.

“If I can stress one thing, that’s communication,” Monson said. “We try to be flexible.”

Weeks said that if anyone has any questions on any communication from the courthouse, they can call the courthouse at (208) 799-3020. If someone does receive a call about jury duty, it will be from the courthouse — not from law enforcement.

Jury selection process

Once people show up to the courthouse, the jury selection process continues with a series of questions by judges and attorneys to filter the number of people to 12 unbiased individuals, along with alternate jurors. Those who serve on jury duty also get paid $50 a day and $25 for a half-day.

To select members of a jury, attorneys have different methods on how to pick potential jurors. Monson said that attorneys are trying to find someone who can be fair and open-minded. Defense attorneys are also looking for people who believe that people are innocent until proven guilty. For the prosecution, they are trying to make sure the defendant has a fair trial. Both sides are looking for bias in either direction.

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Questions from the judge and attorneys are trying to figure out if bias exists. One of the biggest challenges, Monson said, is getting people to talk and asking the right questions to see where they stand. During the questioning Monson tries to make it a fun and good experience for people.

“I recognize that coming to court can be scary,” he said. “I recognize the process is sometimes formal enough where it’s just intimidating, but I think it’s important to let people know that we really appreciate them coming.”

During the questioning from attorneys and the judge, a juror can be excused for cause, meaning that there is a specific reason. After the jury panel is questioned for bias, attorneys take a break and then use their peremptory challenges, which is when one of the attorneys asks a juror to be excused without giving a reason for the dismissal. Each side, prosecution and defense, has six peremptory challenges, which are used to create the final jury.

While attorneys are making their peremptory challenges, as a judge Monson has to make sure attorneys aren’t excluding a certain class or people, like removing all the people of one gender, or removing people of one race or religion. Weeks said that having a cross section of people is important to have a true “jury of your peers” and is why they use random selection for the jury pool. If only one demographic of people shows up for jury duty, the jury won’t have a diverse background and experiences to decide cases.

“It keeps the bias out,” Weeks said. “Having diversity in the exchange and having thoughtful jury discussion is important to come to a resolution of a case.”

There are also alternate jurors, the number of which can be determined by how long the trial will take place. Alternates are included in case a juror has to leave during the trial. If the number of jurors drops below 12, the trial has to start over. The alternate jurors are selected at random at the end of the trial; this ensures that during the trial all the possible jurors are paying attention because they won’t know who among them will be deliberating on a case.

Trial schedule

If someone isn’t selected to be on a specific jury then they still have to report back for any trials that might take place for the rest of the month. If someone is selected for jury duty, even if they didn’t get picked for a trial, that counts as serving for jury duty so they won’t be selected for two years, Weeks said. Monson said the record number of times one person has served on different juries in their lifetime is five.

In the 2nd Judicial District, which includes Nez Perce, Latah, Clearwater, Lewis and Idaho counties, there are rarely two trials going on at the same time. And sometimes cases resolve before going to trial. For example, Monson had six trials scheduled recently, but they all resolved or were rescheduled.

“Just because you’ve gotten a jury summons doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get selected to hear a trial,” Monson said. “It just depends.”

People tend to think of jury trials as big murder trials, but there are other cases that use the jury process.

“People do immediately think of some sort of criminal case, murder case, that you would see on TV as opposed to medical malpractice or contract dispute,” Weeks said.

Monson said people who get called for jury duty have a “high probability” of serving on a criminal trial and most last one to two days, but it’s rarely a murder case. There are sometimes civil cases, but in his three years serving as a judge, Monson has presided over 21 jury trials and only one was a civil case.

Typically trials begin on Mondays in District court, which handles felony cases and larger civil cases. Trials in the Magistrate court, which handles misdemeanors and smaller civil cases, usually begin on Thursdays.

While trials are scheduled to be held within the requirements of the law, typically they aren’t scheduled on holiday weeks like Thanksgiving or around Christmas and New Year’s to avoid issues with the holiday plans of jurors, attorneys and judges.

The duty of jury duty

There’s always people who don’t want to be on a jury, but there’s also people who really want to serve on a jury, including Monson. He would love to be on a jury to see how it works from behind closed doors and to help him be a better judge. For attorneys and judges, jury deliberation is the one part of the process they are not involved in.

When Monson hears people complain that “the judicial system got this wrong” on a verdict, Monson reminds people that the decision came from regular citizens who come from all walks of life and don’t necessarily have legal training.

“The beautiful thing about this jury system is its citizens who are making these decisions. Now, I instruct them on the law … but at the end of the day, it’s citizens who are coming in, hearing the evidence,” Monson said. “They’re determining who they believe, they’re determining what they believe, and they’re coming up with the verdicts.”

Monson highlighted that the right to a jury trial is fundamental to the democratic system of government. The public is also welcome to come to the courthouse and see the right of a jury trial in action.

“And you know what? They’re actually kind of interesting,” Monson said.

After jury trials they ask for comments from jurors to help improve things. Most of the comments say that it was a pleasant experience, they learned something and felt like a part of the process.

“A very common comment is, ‘man, I didn’t want to come, but I’m glad I did. It was actually more interesting than I thought,’ ” Monson said.

Monson and Weeks both emphasized the appreciation they and others have for those who show up.

“We really appreciate our citizens for participating in this justice function,” Weeks said. “We wouldn’t have our system if it weren’t for them.”

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.

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