Jury duty

Published on: May 16, 2023

I’ve Been Called to Jury Duty – Now What?

By Paula Simon

As COVID restrictions ease across Oregon, the state’s circuit courts are resuming in-person trials. We have been getting questions about serving on a jury. Each county circuit court has their own procedures and rules, so it is always a good idea to contact the circuit court directly to get answers to your questions. Here are some sources that I found online that answered some of those questions.

The Oregon State Bar has a Juror handbook which answers in plain language many questions a prospective juror may have.

On the Oregon courts webpage they have posted a Juror Orientation video. It has comments from judges, attorneys, and former jurors about jury duty and re-enactments of parts of jury selection and a trial. There is also a FAQ section on the site about jury duty in general (not county-specific information) and a section on court etiquette.

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Published on: May 12, 2020

Oregon Law Forces Jury Trials To Continue, Increasing Virus Risk (OPB article)

By Laura Orr

Interesting decision by Multnomah County Circuit Court Administrators and judges given even the little we know now about how Covid-19 spreads, not to mention the condition of the old Courthouse:

“Oregon Law Forces Jury Trials To Continue, Increasing Virus Risk,” by Conrad Wilson, OPB, May 12, 2020

If you are called for jury duty, grand or petit, in Oregon, please check your Circuit Court’s website for instructions and contact information. Or, call the phone number on your juror summons.

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Published on: April 17, 2019

Legal Humor News (BBC): Chief Judge, Juror … and Chief Bottlewasher?

By Laura Orr

Hilarious April 2019 story out of England, via the BBC:

Judge asked to be relieved of jury duty – because he was the judge in the case.

But it gets worse! The Jury Central Summoning Bureau first told him, no, you’ll have to serve. Ha ha ha. Read the story:

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Published on: January 8, 2013

Handbook for Oregon Jurors

By Laura Orr

Do you have to write a research report on jury service? Were you or a family member summoned for jury duty?

Are you just curious about jury duty and not sure where to begin reading about it?

The Oregon State Bar has a Handbook for Jurors and it’s a good place to begin. Your county courthouse is another.

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Published on: January 27, 2012

Jurors: Pay Attention to the Judge’s Instructions, or Land in Jail

By Laura Orr

From a 1/25/12, Law in the News link, we travel to this story from England:

“Jurors: leave the information age—or go to jail,” by Peter Bright:

Excerpt: “An English court has sentenced a juror to six months in prison for contempt of court after she performed research on the Internet and forced the abandonment of a criminal trial.

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Published on: September 3, 2008

Jury Duty: We’re walking, we’re walking … we’re summoned, we’re summoned!

By Laura Orr

I’m not the only one who found this story (also in the Oregonian, print on 8/30/08) interesting – see Jack Bog’s Blog post (and Comments). And this is not the first jury-duty story I’ve read recently about jurors in Oregon not showing up, and what happens when they don’t. (My previous posts about jury service here and here.)

Text of ORS 10.235: Additional jurors; selection; notice.

(1) When an additional number of jurors is needed for a jury service term in a county because the term jury list for the term becomes exhausted, or in the opinion of the presiding judge for the judicial district is likely to become exhausted, before the end of the term, additional jurors may be selected and summoned as provided in this section.

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Published on: January 10, 2007

Jury Duty at Jack Bogs Blog

By Laura Orr

Jack Bogdanski has been blogging about his jury duty at the Multnomah County Courthouse. It’s interesting to read and hear what people think of jury duty. I was first called to serve (sounds good doesn’t it) donkey’s years ago in Philadelphia, one of the first cities to use the One Day One Trial system. I loved it. When else can you get a day off from work, the freedom to read newspapers and magazines with few disturbances, and to be entertained (the jury foreman practically did his part as if it was a comedy standup routine – very effective). This was way back before the days of computers and cell phones (cripes, the typewriters were made out of wood back then!) – it was all very peaceful in that room, hushed even. For a future librarian this was bliss. I wasn’t selected that first time, but was many jury-calls later when I lived in New Haven. I still loved it (it was a personal injury case). I would be first in line if anyone wanted to turn it into a real job. Sure it’s tough, but someone’s got to do it.