IN THE THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA. ADMINISTRA TIVE ORDER S (Supersedes Administrative Order S )

Transcription

1 IN THE THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA ADMINISTRA TIVE ORDER S (Supersedes Admnstratve Order S ) JURY MANAGEMENT It s necessary to update procedures for jury management n ths crcut. By the power vested n the chef judge under artcle V, secton 2(d), Florda Consttuton; secton 43.26, Florda Statutes; and Florda Rule of Judcal Admnstraton 2.215(b)(2), t s therefore ORDERED: 1. Jury Clerk & Jury Servces The clerk of the court wll assgn deputy clerks to be desgnated as "jury clerks." Jury clerks wll comprse the department known as "Jury Servces," located n or near the jury audtorum. Jury clerks wll be responsble for: summonng jurors; processng jurors' requests to be excused; checkng n jurors on the automated jury system; assstng n the qualfcatons of jurors; preparng the jury lst after excuses have been determned; makng juror assgnments to courtrooms; updatng payroll; preparng letters of attendance for employers upon jurors' requests; and preparng paperwork for juror compensaton. 2. Jury Duty Judge Each year the chef judge wll enter an admnstratve order assgnng crcut and county judges to consder and act upon requests to be excused from jury servce. The judge assgned wll be desgnated as the "jury duty judge." Jury duty judges may affect changes n weekly assgnment dates upon notfcaton to Jury Servces. 3. Juror Summonses and Questonnares Jury Servces wll be responsble for summonng jurors approxmately fve weeks n advance of the actual reportng date. Juror questonnares wll be maled to prospectve jurors wth the summons. Supplemental juror questonnares may be utlzed n approprate cases. 4. Dsqualfed and Excused Jurors In order to provde an economcal and effcent method of grantng requests to be dsqualfed or excused for those summoned for jury duty, the jury clerk wll send to each person summoned for jury servce an approprate form. The form wll solct nformaton to determne whether a person s dsqualfed or excused from jury servce n accordance wth secton , Florda Statutes. To be dsqualfed or excused from jury servce, prospectve jurors must complete the applcable form and return t to Jury Servces along wth any supportng documentaton.

2 The jury clerk may excuse a prospectve juror pror to the juror reportng for duty for any of the reasons set forth n the followng sectons of the Florda Statutes: (1), (2), (3), (4), (7), (8) or (9). If any prospectve juror requests to be excused from jury servce for a reason set forth n secton (5) or (6), Florda Statutes, the jury clerk wll send such request to the jury duty judge. Any request to be excused from jury servce made to any judge wll be drected to the jury duty judge. Any judge may excuse a prospectve juror by communcatng that request to the jury duty judge. The jury duty judge wll honor another judge's decson to excuse and wll notfy the jury clerk n wrtng. The jury duty judge may excuse a prospectve juror after that juror reports for duty. 5. Qualfcaton of Venre To assure prospectve jurors are qualfed under sectons and , Florda Statutes, the jury duty judge wll qualfy all prospectve jurors unless the jury duty judge advses the jury clerk to perform the qualfyng duty nstead. A suggested scrpt for the qualfcaton of a jury venre by the jury duty judge or jury clerk s attached. 6. Schedulng All admnstratve judges of subject matter dvsons that conduct jury trals wll send a yearly schedule of ther dvsons' desgnated jury tral weeks to Jury Servces. All jurors wll be mpaneled on Mondays of each week except for the week of Thanksgvng and any week n December the chef judge may desgnate. If a holday falls on a Monday, jurors wll be mpaneled on the next workng day after the Monday holday. Judges should make every effort to select all jures needed for the week on Monday. Jures are not to be selected on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Frdays except n extraordnary crcumstances. Unless specfcally reserved by a judge wth the approval of the chef judge, no jurors wll be avalable for servce n the jury audtorum on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Frdays. If t s absolutely necessary for a judge to mpanel a jury on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Frday, the judge or the judge's judcal assstant, after approval by the chef judge, must contact Jury Servces by Monday wth the exact sze of the panel the judge wshes to reserve for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Frday. 7. Jury Panel Szes In accordance wth Florda Supreme Court Admnstratve Order AOSC-13, the panel szes for any jury tral wll be as follows: A. Death penalty cases No greater than 50 B. Other 12-personjures and lfe felones No greater than 40 Page 2 of 4

3 C. Sexual battery cases wth a chld No greater than 30 D. Sexual battery cases wth no chld No greater than 25 E. Other crcut crmnal cases No greater than 22 F. Other crcut cvl cases No greater than 22 G. Domestc volence cases No greater than 16 H. Drvng under the nfluence cases No greater than 16 L Other county cases No greater than 14 The presdng judge may devate from these panel sze gudelnes as ndcated n the attached table. 8. Reportng and Assgnment Procedures Unless dsqualfed, excused or otherwse advsed by the jury clerk, all jurors should report to the Edgecomb Courthouse audtorum on the second floor on Mondays at 8:00 a.m. or 10:30 a.m., or as otherwse ndcated on the jury summons. After jurors have taken the oath and are qualfed by the jury duty judge or jury clerk, the jury clerk wll assgn the jurors to each court as requested. No judge may request a panel be sent to the courtroom unless there s a case ready to go to tral and all partes are present n the courtroom. Balffs wll report to the audtorum when nstructed by ther judges to escort jurors to the assgned courtrooms. Balffs must report to the jury audtorum and enter ther judge's name on the sgn-up sheet, whch s located on the front counter n the Jury Servces desgnated work area. Balffs may report as early as 7:30 a.m. Balffs must be present n the jury audtorum mmedately after the prospectve jurors are qualfed to enable the jury clerk to fll a panel. Jury Servces wll fll panels n the order lsted on the sgn-up sheet as long as the respectve balff s present. For example, f Balff #1 on the sgn-up sheet s not present n the audtorum at the tme the clerk s fllng a panel, but Balff #2 s present, then Jury Servces wll skp Balff #1, and then fll the panel for Balff #2. Every judge should attempt to begn vor dre wthn 30 mnutes of the jury panel arrvng at the courtroom. If vor dre does not begn wthn 30 mnutes, the judge should consder returnng the panel to the jury audtorum for use by other judges. After a jury s selected n the courtroom, the court clerk wll determne from the judge when jurors wll be needed agan and call or send an e-mal message to the jury clerk n the audtorum to determne f jurors are needed to return to the audtorum. If addtonal jurors are needed n a courtroom, or f jurors are needed for the selecton of another tral, the court clerk wll call the jury clerk and request the requred number be sent to the courtroom. The balff wll go to Jury Servces and escort jurors to the courtroom. Courtroom clerks wll update juror attendance. Page 3 of 4

4 9. Prevous Admnstratve Order Superseded Ths admnstratve order supersedes Admnstratve Order S (Jury Management). 10. Effectve Date Ths admnstratve order s effectve March 1,2013. It s ORDERED n Tampa, Hllsborough County, Florda, on ths cg: ~ day of January, Attachments: Suggested Scrpt for Jury Duty Judge Panel Sze Gudelnes Orgnal to: Copes to: Pat Frank, Clerk of the Court All Judges Davd Gee, Sherff Jury Servces Page 4 of 4

5 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IS OPTIONAL SUGGESTED SCRIPT FOR JURY DUTY JUDGE When the jury duty judge enters the audtorum, the clerk wll have the venre rse and they wll be sworn and seated. The followng scrpt s suggested: Introducton "Good Mornng. My name s and I am a judge here n the Thrteenth Crcut. Welcomng Remarks At ths tme, I would lke to say a few thngs about jury servces. Frst, t s one of the cornerstones of our system of justce. It s essental that ctzens come forward and serve. All of us n the justce system recognze that sometmes t s nconvenent and rrtatng to serve. We apprecate your presence here today. Second, some of you are gong to have a better experence than others. Some of you wll be mmedately chosen to serve on a jury and others of you wll partcpate n several jury selecton procedures and not be chosen. Many of you wll end up sttng around and standng around a lot wthout understandng what s gong on - and why the system s beng conducted the way t s. All I can tell you now s that those of us who work n the justce system recognze some of the negatve aspects of jury servce and we are workng contnually to mnmze and elmnate them. However, a certan amount of watng s nherent n jury selecton and we ask you to be as understandng as possble. Qualfcaton of Venre I am now gong to 'qualfy' each of you as prospectve jurors whch means I wll try to ensure you meet certan legal requrements for jury servce. I am gong to ask you seven questons and request that you answer 'yes' or 'no' after each one: 1. Are you at least 18 years of age? 2. Are you a ctzen of the Unted States? 3. Are you a legal resdent of the state of Florda and Hllsborough County? 4. Are you the governor, leutenant governor, cabnet offcer, clerk of court or judge? 5. Have you ever been convcted of brbery, forgery, perjury, larceny or any other felony and not have had your cvl rghts restored? 6. Are you under prosecuton for any crme at ths tme? 7. Do you possess a Florda drver's lcense or dentfcaton card ssued by the Department of Hghway Safety and Motor Vehcles or have you executed an affdavt ndcatng you are elgble to serve as a juror? To be qualfed as a prospectve juror, each of you should have answered 'yes' to the questons concernng age, ctzenshp and resdency status. You should have answered 'no' to the questons concernng beng under prosecuton and beng convcted wthout havng had your

6 cvl rghts restored. If you have a queston concernng your answer to any of these questons, please come up to the clerk after I have been excused. She wll arrange for me to answer your questons prvately. You have now been sworn as a venre. Later, you wll be sworn as a member of a panel. If you are chosen to serve, you wll then be sworn as a juror. Thus, you wll be dong a lot of swearng over the next few days (laugh). I hope that your swearng wll be as I have descrbed and not at the system. Lmtaton on Use of Communcaton Devces On a more serous note, many of you have cell phones, smart phones, computers and other electronc devces. Even though you have not yet been selected as a juror, there are some strct rules that you must follow about usng your cell phones, electronc devces and computers. You must not use any devce to search the Internet or to fnd out anythng related to any cases n the courthouse. Between now and when you have been dscharged from jury duty by the judge, you must not provde or receve any nformaton about your jury servce to anyone, ncludng frends, coworkers, and famly members. You may tell those who need to know where you are that you have been called for jury duty. If you are pcked for a jury, you may tell people that you have been pcked for a jury and how long the case may take. However, you must not gve anyone any nformaton about the case tself or the people nvolved n the case. You must also warn people not to try to say anythng to you or wrte to you about your jury servce or the case. Ths ncludes face-to-face, phone or computer communcatons. In ths age of electronc communcaton, I want to stress that you must not use electronc devces or computers to communcate about ths case, ncludng tweetng, textng, bloggng, e malng, postng nformaton on a webste or chat room, or any other means at all. Do not send or accept any messages, ncludng e-mal and text messages, about your jury servce. You must not dsclose your thoughts about your jury servce or ask for advce on how to decde any case. After you are called to the courtroom, the judge wll gve you specfc nstructons about these matters. A judge wll tell you when you are released from ths nstructon. All of us are dependng on you to follow these rules, so that there wll be a far and lawful resoluton of every case. Concluson So wth that sad, I hope that after you've completed your jury servce you wll look upon t as beng a postve contrbuton to our system ofjustce. I hope that when you descrbe your servce to frends, famly and co-workers you'll do so n a favorable lght. As I mentoned earler, the rght to be judged by a jury of one's peers s a cornerstone of our system of justce. It s mportant that when these frends, famly and co-workers are summoned that they, too, come forward as you have and provde jury servce wth a postve atttude. Thank you." Page 20f2 (Modfed - January 20l3)

7 ( Panel Sze Gudelnes Case Type D~alh penalty cases Panel Sze Gudelnes {or TypcaJ Cases GuIdelne No greater tban 50 Acceptable Devatons'" (wth approval of presdng judge} Plus 3 for each addtonal defendant; or Plus 3 [or lengthy trals; or P I us 3 for hgh profle trals; or Plus J for extraordnary crcumstances., \ j , l : l )llcr 12 person No grcakr Plus 3 for each ;lddlonaj defendantpliny; or :.lliies (c:rmnal or than 40 Plus 3 for lengthy trals; or,\\ I) and!tfc Plus 3 [or hgh profle trals; or : rd0ncs Plus 3 for extraordnary crcumstances. Sexual banc.:ry No ;;realcr Plus J for each addtonal dc[endam; or! c:\\cs w c1l1jd than 30 Plus 3 for lengthy trals; or Plus 3 for hgh profle trals; oc Plus 3 for extraordnary crcumstances. --,-- --., t :----:-~~_:_-_::_ l S-:xual buli<.:ry I No grcaet'f Plus 3 /01" each addtonal dcfcml;ml; or..:a,<:5 no chld Ithan ~5 Plus 3 for lengthy trals; or Plus 3 lor hgh profle trals: or 4- ~-~-Ju-s-3--fo-r-e-x-l-ra-o-rd--n-my~-c-r_cu_mst_a_n~e~es_ Other <:lfcut No grealt'r Plus 2 lor each addtonal dcfulldant; or. crmnal c",scs thall 12 Plus 2 for lengthy trals; or Plus 2 for hgh profle lrals; or Plus 2 for extraordnai}' crcumstances. folhcr crcut cvl No grldtlcr Plus 2 for each addtonal pany; or,than 22! Plus :2 for lengthy trals; or cl'cs I Plus 2 fur hgh profle trals; or Plu$ 2 for extraordnary crcumstances_ Domestc volence Nogremer Plus 2 for e:lch addtonal party; or 1 cas\!'s than 16 Plw; 2 for lengthy tr",ls; or Plus 2 for hgh pro!lc trals: or I Plus 2 for extraordnary crcumstances. Drvng ullder the No gn:ll<::r Plus 2 for each addtonal defendant; or nl1ucncc cascs {han 16 PIllS 2 for lengthy trals; or Plus :2 for hgh profle trals; or! Plus 2 for exlfllordnary crcumsl;mces. Nu grcater Plu~ 2 lor c3{.;h addtonal defcndanlparty; or than I.. Plus 2 for lengthy trals; or Plu~? for hgh prollje trals; or Plus 2 lor cxlfuordllllly crcumstances. Gudelnes for Enmpted Cases"'''' Th~sc Jnatolls ('om lhe gudelnes must be approved by the presdng judge, Devatons may be cumulatvc gven case $p~cllc~. However. $uch oc:vatons should not exceed 20 jurors Oloove the gudelne. Lengthy trals ar~ those predcted (0 lasl mure than th e Jays_ Hgh protle trals are those recevng a sgnfcant Jmount ofpublcly as delenmned by the presdng judge. EXlr~ort.lnary t:lrc:ulllstmlccs are ally olher fa.;tors that may mpact the vor dre process as delcnnm;d by lhe presdng judge. ~ hl'!l1ptuns m.iy be granted for complex. lengthy. or hgh profles cnscs as d.:tennmed by the pre~dng Judge.! J