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Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Ind. Courts - More on jury duty changes
"Skipping jury duty just got harder: New state rules end quirky exemptions" is the headline to a story today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette by Dionne Waugh. Some quotes:
As of this week, all of Indiana’s jury exemptions – from the political to the quirky – will be gone.No longer will ferry boat operators, veterinarians, citizens older than 65 and Indianapolis Public Schools board members, among others, be automatically exempt from jury duty.
However, it will be a few months before Allen County sees the effect of the new law, which allows whole groups of people, including dentists, law enforcement officers, legislators, armed services personnel, elected or appointed government officials, firefighters and corrections officers, to opt out of serving on a jury.
The new law puts Indiana with a handful of other states leading the country because of the changes.
Allen County officials have been prepared since they learned in March that the law was a go, said Superior Judge Fran Gull, who helped write the new rules.
But because Allen County uses a two-tiered system to qualify potential jurors, the exemption effect won’t be instantaneous.
It works like this: Every few months, Allen County court staff mail out qualification documents, which include boxes that people can check for automatic exemption. When the paperwork comes back, it is run through a software system that automatically kicks out people who are exempt or don’t qualify. * * *
Gull also points out that people still must qualify to serve as jurors, such as being an Allen County resident at least 18 years old who can read and understand the English language.
For example, she said she knows some of the elderly fear they may be forced to serve even though they suffer from problems such as deafness.
“Well, if they can’t hear, they don’t qualify,” she said. The same is true for those who may be in a nursing home under someone else’s guardianship. “The elimination of exemptions has nothing to do with qualifications.”
The now-gone exemptions have their roots in Hoosier history.
“Back in the day, there were no doctors, only veterinarians, and if you pulled one (in for jury duty) you would be decimating a rural community (because) those were the ones who were making sure the flocks were healthy … and that’s what put food on the table,” Gull said. “That’s not the case anymore.”
And in the days without cars and bridges, ferry boat operators were the only ones who could get residents across the river.
“Those were critical professions. It was important they had some consideration from the court,” she said.
The measure, which failed twice before, will create a deeper pool of applicants to draw from as well as better representation on the juries, Gull said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 4, 2006 10:48 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts