Jury Commission and Clerk of Jury Commission Duties

Jury Management

Creating, Balancing, and Defending County Jury Lists

Preface

The county board of jury commissioners (hereinafter called “jury commission,” “commission,” or “board”) was created by Georgia lawmakers in 1873 to establish a local board responsible for comprising county jury lists from which grand and trial (also called “petit” or “traverse”) juries could be selected.[1] Establishment of locally-based jury commissions provided an enhancement in courts statewide intended to further ensure criminal defendants a fair trial, consequently safeguarding fundamental rights guaranteed to all citizens by the United States and sate constitutions. Federal and state judicial decisions have continually redefined the duties of the jury commission, primarily addressing how jury lists should be arrayed to provide representation of a fair cross-section of the community.

The board’s membership initially included three laypersons having no direct relationship with the courts or county government, the county clerk and the ordinary (now called the “probate judge”). Later, the number of laypersons serving on the commission was increased to six. The county jury commission was, and continues to be, structured upon democratic principles of government, with citizen participation on the board ideally creating checks and balances—a “filtration system”—that is essential for the active recruitment of potential jurors while, at the same time, serving to reduce the chances that “stacking” of jury lists could occur during the compilation process.[2]

Lawmakers have long recognized that, in order for the jury commission to properly perform its duties and operate proficiently, it must be empowered to function as an independent unit of local governmental and insulated statutorily against any external influences—i.e., from the court, officers of the court, law enforcement, the county governing authority, or any other entity. Accordingly, the jury commission has always been statutorily authorized—even required—to conduct its meetings “in secrecy” as a means for protecting the sanctity of the process and insulating members of the board from extraneous pressures as they scour the county to identify citizens who are legally qualified and competent to serve as jurors for inclusion in the county’s active jury pool.

Just how important a county jury commission that efficiently performs its duties is can only be measured in terms of the significance that jury lists they create bear on the work of Georgia’s courts. Logically, properly arrayed jury lists are critical to the dispensation of justice since persons serving on grand and petit juries are called upon to perform some of the most solemn duties a citizen may be called upon to render. The effects of a jury commission’s labor are manifest throughout the various processes of civil and criminal litigation: grand jurors—the “most intelligent, most upright, and most experienced” citizens of the county—serve as an indispensable buffer between the individual and the criminal justice system in most serious felony criminal cases when they receive criminal presentments and determine if there is sufficient evidence to bind an accused over for a criminal trial, while trial jurors hear evidence and determine the guilt or innocence of an accused in criminal cases and decide issues in disputes between individuals in civil cases. Additionally, the grand jury is statutorily empowered to, and thus responsible for, inspecting and, whenever necessary, investigating all functions of county government and providing some measure of public scrutiny of local officials and departments, thus helping to protect citizens from governmental wrongdoing, malfeasance, misfeasance, and corruption. Having diligent, qualified, and competent lists from which grand and trial jurors are selected is the foundation for ensuring “justice for all.”

Disclaimer

The content of this section of the Jury Management unit for the Certified Training for Superior Court Clerks of Georgia is provided purely for instructional purposes. Although the contents of this unit are derived from extensive legal research, the author’s twenty-plus years of practical experience as a clerk of superior court clerk, clerk of his county jury commission, and as an active participant in more than two dozen death penalty cases, nothing contained herein should be construed as dispensing legal advice or relied upon jury commissioners or clerks of superior court in lieu of the advice of legal counsel, including instructions from the court, the county attorney, and the district attorney of the circuit.

Definitions

The following special terms are used in this section:

Array – (-r) tr.v. ar·rayed, ar·ray·ing, ar·rays – To set out for display or use; place in an orderly arrangement: arrayed the whole regiment on the parade ground; n. 1An orderly, often imposing arrangement; 2. An impressively large number, as of persons or objects.

Cognizable – (kgn-z-bl, kg-n-) adj.— 1.Knowable or perceivable; 2. Law. Able to be tried before a particular court.

Cognizable group – any class of residents of a county that ostensibly share social, cultural, or racial, or sexual traits

Cross-section –also cross sec·tion (krôsskshn, krs-) n. – 1. A sample meant to be representative of a whole population; 2. Informal. A variety; a diversity.

Fair—adj. – 1. Having or exhibiting a disposition that is free of favoritism or bias; impartial; 2. Just to all parties; 3. Being in accordance with relative merit or significance; 4. Consistent with rules, logic, or ethics.

Jury commissioner – 1. “an officer charged with the duty of selecting the names to be put into the jury wheel, or of drawing panels of jurors for a particular term of court”; 2. a local official responsible for collecting lists of qualified prospective jurors for submission the court.”[3]

Jury venire (see venire below) – “the list of jurors summoned to serve as jurors for a particular term” or, when more broadly used, the list of jurors of a county.

Jury wheel – “physical device or electronic system for the storage and random selection of the names or identifying numbers of prospective jurors. A machine containing the names of persons qualified to serve as grand and petit jurors, from which, in an order determined by the hazard of its revolutions, are drawn a sufficient number of such names to make up the panels for a given term of court.”[4]

Venire – (v-nr, -nîr) n. –The panel of prospective jurors from which a jury is selected.

County Board of Jury Commissioners

Qualifications

O.C.G.A. § 15-12-20 requires that each county have a board of jury commissioners. Qualifications of jury commissioners are that they:

Must be discreet persons
May not be practicing attorneys at law or county officers[5] and
May not serve consecutive terms of office if he or she has previously served more than three years as a jury commissioner.

Contrary to popularly held opinions, the board’s membership does not have to be representative of the community or statistically proportionate by race, sex, or any other category to the total population of the county. There is no requirement that the membership provide representation of designated “road,” militia, or similar geographical or political districts.

Statutory Provisions

O.C.G.A. § 15-12-20. Board of jury commissioners; appointment; qualifications; number; terms; removal

(a) In each county there shall be a board of jury commissioners, whose members shall be discreet persons who are not practicing attorneys at law nor county officers, who shall be appointed by the chief judge of the superior court.
(b) Absent promulgation of a court rule pursuant to subsection (c) of this Code section specifying a lesser number, the board of jury commissioners shall be composed of six members. When the board is composed of six members, on the first appointment two shall be appointed for two years, two for four years, and two for six years. Their successors shall be appointed for a term of six years.
(c) In any county the chief judge of the superior court may establish by court rule duly published and filed a board of jury commissioners composed of not less than three nor more than five members. In counties in which the numerical composition of the board has been established by court rule, the first appointments to the board shall be fixed in such a manner that not more than one member's term shall expire during any calendar year. The chief judge shall adjust the composition and terms of members of the board in office at the time of the publication of the court rule. Successors to members of the board originally appointed under the provisions of a court rule shall be appointed for a term of six years.
(d) In all cases, the chief judge shall have the right to remove the jury commissioners at any time, in his discretion, for cause and appoint successors. However, no person who has served for more than three years as a jury commissioner shall be eligible or shall be appointed to succeed himself as a member of the board of jury commissioners.

Board Membership and Terms of Office

Unless local court rules provide otherwise for fewer members, the jury commission typically consists of six members, who usually serve for six years, with terms of office staggered even when membership is established by court rule to prevent total attrition of the entire board at once. [See O.C.G.A. § 15-12-20 (b) and (c) for additional related provisions].

Jury commissioners are state judicial officers responsible to the superior court and their actions are defended by the state attorney general.[6] Unless called upon to testify in “some court of justice or other legal tribunal of this state,” jury commissioners are required to “keep secret and inviolate” their deliberations during the discharge of their duties as commissioners.[7]

Reappointment of Members

A jury commissioner cannot legally be reappointed (1) when, subsequent to being appointed and performing duties on the board, the commissioner is removed from office by the chief judge of superior court for “good and legal cause”;[8] or (2) after being appointed and serving three or more years of an unexpired term of another jury commissioner.

Appointment Procedures

By law, the chief judge of the superior court appoints jury commissioners; however, since the clerk of superior court serves