Missouri Needs A Better Jury System
Today is Law Day and part of Juror Appreciation Week.
I was called in last month for jury service and I was looking forward to it. For the first time I was to start on a Wednesday rather than a Monday. We were all dismissed for lunch at 11:30am and told to return by 1:15pm. At this point no numbers had been called for the first jury pool. Finally at 2pm the first group was called and my number was among those.
We get to the courtroom and the staff take care of details. The judge comes out and explains the importance of jurors but the case wasn’t ready to be heard that day after all, we were dismissed. I wanted to serve on a jury like I did last time. I wasn’t losing money by being there.
States like Illinois & California have systems available for each circuit to use where jurors can call in the day before to see if they are needed or not. Alternatively, prospective jurors can login online to see if they are needed. This lets people go about there lives. For my Wednesday service I would’ve checked on Tuesday. It likely would’ve told me I was needed since the judge thought he’d need a jury. But others might have been told to call in on Wednesday to see if they were needed on Thursday. A friend I saw on jury duty was losing money sitting there, he could’ve been working on Wednesday instead. Missouri needs such a system so people don’t spend days just sitting there!
Here are the poll results from the poll last week:
Q: How do you feel about jury duty?
- I go and want to serve 58 [50.43%]
- I show up (if called) but don’t want to be called 29 [25.22%]
- Other: 14 [12.17%]
- If called, I try to get out of it. 5 4.35% 4.35%
- Unsure/no opinion 4 [3.48%]
- I don’t care 3 [2.61%]
- I don’t vote, so I don’t get called. 2 [1.74%]
The 14 “other” answers from readers were:
- would love to go but never get called
- I have no problem serving. But saying “want to serve” is a bit of a stretch.
- Love it! After voting, it’s the most important way we act as a democracy.
- never been called
- I’ve lived in the city for 4 years and still haven’t been called. I want to go!
- Dont vote, get called anyway
- I’ve never been called, but would go.
- I have never been called for it.
- Considering who I’ve seen picked, I hope I never face a jury trial in stl city
- I go – depends on the case
- Reform. Current system has too many uneducated people making critical decisions.
- I do vote, but haven’t been called.
- Never been called!
- It’s my civic duty.
I like serving and I think others would too if we only have to show up when we are needed for a jury pool.
— Steve Patterson
In St. Louis County, there is a phone number or website (I can’t remember which exactly at the moment) for people who get called for Wednesday jury service to see if they will be needed, so this is a county by county thing. For Monday service there tend to be enough trials potentially beginning that they always want a large pool readily available.
But ultimately even if the courts think they need someone for jury duty the day before a trial is set to begin, that does not mean that the case won’t still get settled at the last minute. Judges almost universally make every effort to get cases settled. Last time I was called for jury duty, one group of jurors got selected for a case and the case was settled before that group made it from the jury assembly room to the courtroom. Even if your number never gets called on your two days of jury service, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the court could have reasonably known that you weren’t needed the day before you were set to come in.
My experience on jury duty this week was very different than yours.
My number was chosen as part of the 6th panel called on Monday by 11:30am, for a civil case. Voir dire started right after lunch and completed by 3pm. As I was not chosen (I was one of the last people in the panel), I was done and on my way home by 3:30pm.