SENATE BILL REPORT
SHB 1460
BYHouse Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representatives Armstrong, Locke and May; by request of Office of the Administrator for the Courts)
Revising jury selection and summoning.
House Committe on Judiciary
Senate Committee on Law & Justice
Senate Hearing Date(s):February 22, 1988; February 25, 1988
Majority Report: Do pass as amended.
Signed by Senators Pullen, Chairman; McCaslin, Vice Chairman; Halsan, Hayner, Nelson, Newhouse, Niemi, Talmadge.
Senate Staff:Jeanne Cushman Scott (786-7461)
February 29, 1988
AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON LAW & JUSTICE, FEBRUARY 25, 1988
BACKGROUND:
Washington law provides for the selection and summoning of jurors by several different methods. A petit jury is selected randomly from an annual list of registered voters by a superior court judge. A grand jury is selected by the court from the petit jury panel or from a panel of one hundred individuals drawn by lot in a manner provided for petit jury panels. A jury of inquest is comprised of six persons summoned by the coroner. In a trial for condemnation of property, if a jury trial is requested but not available, the court may wait until the next regular jury term or direct the sheriff to summon qualified persons to form a jury.
SUMMARY:
All courts and juries of inquest in the State of Washington select and summon jurors uniformly.
The county auditor prepares a list of all registered voters in the county. This list is filed with the superior court at least annually.
Upon receipt of the list of registered voters, the jury administrator uses that list as the jury source list and compiles a master jury list.
The master jury list is either randomly selected from the source list or an exact duplicate of the source list. The jury administrator of a superior court is the county clerk.
A judge or coroner directs the jury administrator of that court or county to randomly select jurors from the master jury list to be summoned. Persons selected to serve are summoned by mail or personal service. Summons are prepared by the jury administrator and issued in the name of the court and the court clerk.
SUMMARY OF PROPOSED SENATE AMENDMENTS:
The definition sections for jury administrator and jury administrator for a court of limited jurisdiction are omitted. References to jury administrator are omitted throughout.
The superior court shall use the registered voters source list compiled by the county auditor to compile the master jury list. The master jury list shall be certified by the superior court and filed with the county clerk. When the registered voters list is updated by the county auditor the superior court may update the jury lists as maintained by the county clerk.
A description of the random jury selection process shall be kept on file with the county clerk.
When a jury term is necessary the judge or judges of any court shall direct that a jury panel be selected and summoned.
Persons selected for jury service shall be notified by the county clerk. In courts of limited jurisdiction summons shall be issued by the court. Upon agreement of the courts the superior court may summon jurors for any and all courts in the county or judicial district.
When additional jurors are required for a jury term the judge or judges of any court may direct random selection and summoning from the master jury list.
When a special jury is needed for condemnation cases the court shall direct that a jury panel be selected and summoned.
Coroner's inquest juries shall be provided by the superior court.
The superior court and courts of limited jurisdiction in a county or judicial district may agree to consolidate jury management in the superior court.
Provisions for the study by the judicial council to determine advisability of using other lists in addition to the jury source list derived from the list of registered voters shall take effect immediately. The remainder of the act shall take effect January 1, 1989.
Appropriation: none
Revenue: none
Fiscal Note: none requested