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Jury selection in the 24th Judicial District Court is administered by the Jury Commission and the clerk of court. The five-member Jury Commission, (the clerk of court ex-officio and four court-appointed citizens), is responsible for selection of jury pools and consideration of rescheduling and excusal requests. They prepare jury summonses, which are ordered by the Court based on projected trial activity. The summonses are mailed or hand-served by the sheriff and serve jointly as a questionnaire and summons. The questionnaire portion requests basic information be returned within five days to verify or otherwise correct existing data and to confirm a prospective juror’s intent to serve. The form also provides recipients with the opportunity to claim an exemption allowed pursuant to Louisiana law (70 years of age and over, interdicted, does not speak the English language, not a U.S. citizen, reported for jury service within the previous two years, under age 18, moved out of Jefferson Parish, has not lived in Jefferson Parish for one year, deceased, or under indictment for a felony with civil rights not restored). As well, prospective jurors may contact the Jury Commission to request an excusal based on a hardship that may be supported with documentation.
THE JURY COMMISSION
The jury commission consists of (a) the Clerk of Court or a deputy clerk designated by him/her in writing to perform all actions affecting the jury commission and (b) 4 other members having the requisite qualifications and appointed by order of the district court to serve at the court’s pleasure.
Meetings of the jury commission may be held only when a quorum of at least 3 members are present. The meetings are scheduled during the morning hours on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of each week and ending upon completion of each day’s work. No meetings are conducted on legal holidays.
Jury commission meetings take place in the Jury Assembly Room in the Jefferson Parish General Government Building 200 Derbigny St. Gretna LA, where jurors report for jury duty. The meetings are open to the public, and any prospective juror or member of the public may have access to any meeting upon notice/request directed to staff in the Jury Assembly Room.
Computer software randomly selects prospective jurors eligible for service and assigns each a stand-by number. The prospective juror then uses the stand-by number to confirm need for attendance. This information is available by automated phone message (504) 364-3838 and on the clerk of court’s Internet web site after 4:30 P.M. (Juror Verification Page) the workday prior to the jury service date. The list of prospective jurors is scrambled prior to assignment of the stand-by number to prevent the lower portions of the alphabet from being excluded systematically.
The stand-by system has been successful in reducing costs to the justice system. Often, cases are settled or continued in advance of a trial date. With the stand-by system, the clerk may make adjustments to the size of the pool based on court activity, saving civil litigants and the taxpayer the cost of juror salaries and mileage.
If you have been called for jury service and have questions, visit the frequently-asked questions (FAQ) section of this website. If you remain uncertain, please feel free to contact us at 364-2919 or 364-2968. You may also download a copy of our JUROR HANDBOOK.
1. In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn’t show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out any of this information and bingo! Your identity just got stolen. The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, and Colorado. This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try and bully people into giving information by pretending they’re with the court system.
The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their websites, warning consumers about the fraud. The Clerk of Court’s Office will NEVER ask for personal information over the telephone. Do NOT give out personal information over the telephone. Check it out here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
2. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced. The caller claims to be a jury DUTY coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen. The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois , and Colorado , AZ and more. This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system.
The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.