INTRODUCTION TO PETIT JURY SERVICE

Welcome to jury service in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.  We hope you will find your term of jury service an interesting and satisfying experience.  Your duties and responsibilities as a juror will be explained when you appear for service.  This information will answer questions of a more immediate nature.

JURY SELECTION - You may wonder how you came to be called for jury duty.  Your name was obtained from the voter registration list of your county, according to guidelines which assure a random selection of a fair cross-section of the community.  You were then mailed a qualification form to complete.  On the basis of your answers to the questions on that form you were found to be qualified to serve and were again randomly selected to be summoned as a prospective juror.

To satisfy your obligation as a juror in this court, one of three things must occur: (1) If you are impaneled (selected as a juror), you will serve throughout the trial and, upon its completion, your service will be complete; OR (2) If you are called or notified to appear five (5) times, but are never impaneled as a juror, you will be excused from further jury service after the fifth call; OR (3) If two months have elapsed since the date of your first scheduled appearance, and you have never been impaneled as a juror, you will be excused from further jury service.

NOTICE TO REPORT FOR DUTY - In the near future, you will receive a “Notice to Report,” instructing you to report on a certain day and time and assigning you to a jury group.  On rare occasions, you may be telephoned by the jury clerk with instructions to report.  You will be required to call a recording device AFTER 6:00 p.m. on the night before you are to report - even though it may be a Sunday or holiday.  This recorded message is on all night and will indicate whether or not your jury group must report.  Please stay on the line until you hear the complete message.

Sometimes the trial for which you have been called will settle or be rescheduled.  When this occurs, your jury group will receive a recorded message on the answering machine to either: (a) not report, or (b) report on a different date.  Although you will not be paid, you will be credited with one days jury service if this occurs.  If you mistakenly report for service, the court cannot pay for your attendance that day.

REPORTING FOR DUTY - Jury duty can commence early in our Court and it is critical that you report on time.  Court cannot start until all jurors are present.  You should allow a full day (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) for jury service.  You will be sent to a courtroom for an interview process, known as voir dire, for jury selection.  If you are selected to serve on a trial, the Judge will give you your instructions.  If you are not selected, you will return to the jury waiting room and await instructions from the jury clerk.

SERVICE ON A TRIAL - Most of our trials last 3-5 days.  However, it is not uncommon for a trial to last more than five days.  The Judge will adjourn the jury each evening and will instruct you on what time you must return the following morning.  You must check in with the Jury Department each morning.  The Judge will also indicate on the first day of service how long he/she anticipates the trial to last.  It is very rare for a jury to have to remain overnight.  If this should happen, you will be paid a basic subsistence allowance.  If a jury is sequestered (kept together for security purposes), the government will pay all expenses for food and lodging.

COURT ATTIRE - Court proceedings are formal events. Dress comfortably but in a manner consistent with the dignity and seriousness of the occasion. In deference to and out of respect for others in the courtrooms, please do not wear perfumes, colognes, after-shave lotions, hair or body sprays, or other fragrances.

Smoking and all other uses of tobacco are prohibited throughout the federal building. There are no designated smoking areas inside the building.

Jurors and other members of the public are prohibited from bringing the following items in the federal building ... please leave them at home or in your vehicle, because you cannot bring them into the building ... there are no exceptions and Court Security Officers will instruct you to take these items to your vehicle:

• Guns, knives, and all other items that could be used as weapons, including box cutters, razors, screwdrivers, and Leatherman-type tools.
• Long hatpins, crocheting needles, knitting needles, scissors (including cuticle scissors)
• Cellular telephones
• Tape recorders, cameras, beepers, pagers, digital assistants (PDAs, Palm Pilot, Blackberry, and similar messaging devices)
• Laptop or any other type of personal computer
• Reading materials ... no newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, tabloids, paperback books, school books, crossword puzzles, or other printed items
• Food, drink, gum, candy, snacks

All persons entering the federal building must pass through metal-detectors. To speed up the screening processes, keep metal jewelry and other personal items to a minimum ... a wristwatch is fine, but avoid gigarette lighters, metal pens and pencils, heavy beltbuckles,studded belts, necklaces, bracelets, brooches, pins, medallions, and other decorative or ornamental items.

All hand-carried items, including purses, pocketbooks, bookbags, backpacks, cigarette cases, totes, and other packages and containers will be X-rayed and may be opened for examination. Court Security Officers will instruct you to return prohibited items to your vehicle; they will seize illegal items.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBER, OR EMPLOYMENT - Any such changes should be reported to the Jury Department immediately.  The numbers are as follows:

Oxford     (662) 234-7400 or 1-800-524-9609

LOCATION - The following are the courthouse locations in the Northern District of Mississippi:

Aberdeen
Greenville
Oxford

PARKING - Please refer to the list of parking lots located near the courthouse:
       Aberdeen
       Greenville
       Oxford

  Do NOT park on the street or at a parking meter.  You will not have time to leave the building to pay meter charges and the Court is not responsible for any parking violations.

STAYING OVERNIGHT - Jurors who live more than sixty (60) miles away  from the Court are eligible for reimbursement of overnight accommodations.   Please telephone the jury department if you have any questions.

PAYMENT OF ATTENDANCE FEES AND TRANSPORTATION COSTS - Attendance fees, parking, mileage, and other transportation costs are paid by check and mailed to your home address, usually within 10-15 days of your initial day of service.

(1) Attendance Fees - A $40.00 attendance fee is paid for each day you report for duty, whether or not you are selected to serve on a trial.  The $40.00 attendance fee must be reported as income for tax purposes.  You must keep a record of the amounts you receive as no tax has been withheld and no W-2 forms are furnished.  However, you do not need to report travel allowance as income.  1099 forms are furnished only to those jurors who receive $600 or more for attendance in a calendar year, and are mailed in January of the year following jury service.

(2) Transportation Costs - You will be reimbursed $0.505 cents per mile round trip from your home for travel expenses.  Your mileage is automatically calculated according to the distance from your zip code to the courthouse.  

EXCUSES - Due to the short term of service, only requests for excuses because of extreme hardship will be considered by the Court.  All excuses must be submitted in writing to the court location for which you have been summoned to appear.  

Do NOT wait until you receive your “Notice to Report” letter.  Upon receipt of this Handbook, immediately notify the Jury Department of any extreme hardship which poses a conflict with your term of jury service.  Please include the following information in your letter: the nature of the hardship; whether the request is permanent or temporary; the earliest date you will be able to serve if excused; and if the excuse is for medical reasons, a note from your doctor must be included.  You will receive written notice of the Court's ruling on your hardship request.  Jurors who fail to report for jury service without an approved excuse may be served by the United States Marshal with an order directing them to appear before a judge to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of the Jury Service and Selection Act.  If found in contempt, jurors may be fined $100.00, imprisoned for three days, or both.

ATTENDANCE CERTIFICATES FOR EMPLOYER - Upon request, you will be provided with an attendance certificate showing the dates you served and the attendance fees paid to you.  Your employment is protected by law while you are serving as a juror.  If you should have a problem with your employer in connection with your jury service, please contact the Court immediately.

If you have additional questions regarding your service in this Court, feel free to contact  the Jury Department at:

Oxford     (662) 234-7400 or 1-800-524-9609

                          David Crews
                          CLERK OF COURT