A. Trials And Judgments:
1. Before trial commences, either party, upon good cause shown, may obtain a reasonable postponement thereof.
2. The defendant must be present in person at the trial.
3. In all trials, as to matters not covered in this chapter, or by the statutes relating to municipal criminal courts, or by rules duly promulgated by the supreme court of Oklahoma, the procedure applicable in trials of misdemeanors in the district courts shall apply to the extent that they can be made effective.
4. If the defendant pleads guilty or is convicted after the trial, the court must render judgment thereon, fixing the penalty within the limits prescribed by the applicable ordinance and imposing sentence accordingly.
5. At the close of trial, judgment must be rendered immediately by the judge who shall cause it to be entered in his docket.
6. If judgment is of acquittal, and the defendant is not to be detained for any other legal cause, he must be discharged at once. (1985 Code § 6-127)
7. A judgment that the defendant pay a fine may also direct that he be imprisoned until the fine is satisfied at the rate of one day's imprisonment for each ten dollars ($10.00) of fine. (1985 Code § 6-127; amd. 2004 Code)
B. Trial By Jury And Waiver:
1. In all prosecutions for violations of ordinances punishable by fine of more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00), including costs, or by imprisonment, or by both fine and imprisonment, trial shall be by jury, unless waived by the defendant. If trial by jury is waived, trial shall be to the court. (1985 Code § 6-128; amd. 2004 Code)
2. At arraignment, the defendant shall be asked whether he demands or waives trial by jury. His election shall be recorded in the minutes of the arraignment and entered on the docket of the court respecting proceedings in the case.
3. An election waiving jury trial, made at arraignment, may be changed by the defendant at any time prior to the day for which trial by the court is set. An election demanding jury trial may be changed at any time prior to the commencement of proceedings to impanel the jury for the trial, but if that change occurs after the case has been set for jury trial, it may not thereafter be rechanged so as again to demand trial by jury. (1985 Code § 6-128)
C. Jurors And Jury Trial Procedures:
1. Whenever a calendar has been made up for the trial of cases by jury, the judge shall request, in writing, the presiding judge of the district court for this judicial district to cause the names of a stated number of jurors, deemed sufficient to dispose of the cases on the calendar, to be drawn from the jury wheel in accordance with the governing statutes of the state, and to be certified by the clerk of the district court to the judge of the municipal court. The request shall be made in time for the list to be certified and the jurors to be summoned legally before the trial of the calendar begins. If it is anticipated that the completion of the calendar will require more than two (2) weeks, the request for jurors shall specify the number required for each two (2) week period, as provided by law for the drawing of jurors for the district court. Additional drawing of other names also may be requested by the judge, when necessary, in accordance with the law for such additional drawings in the district court. If, in the future, provisions of the law respecting the drawing of jury lists for the district court are changed, the judge shall take such steps, in requesting jury lists for the court, as are necessary to comply with the state law.
2. Upon receipt of the jury list, the clerk of the court shall cause a summons substantially in the following form to be issued and served upon each person on the list:
STATE OF OKLAHOMA )
) SS
COUNTY OF HUGHES )
TO , GREETINGS: You hereby are summoned to appear in the Municipal Court for the City of Holdenville, Oklahoma, to be held at on the day of 20 , at the hour of o'clock .M., to serve as a juror in said court, and to continue in such service until discharged by the court.
Hereof fail not, under penalty of law.
Issued under the authority of said court, this day of , 20 .
Clerk of the Municipal Court of the
City of Holdenville, Oklahoma
(1985 Code § 6-129)
3. Service shall be made, as the judge may prescribe by rule or direct by order, either in person upon the juror by the chief of police or by any member of the police force of the city, or by the clerk of the court, through certified mail, directed to the juror at his address as given in the jury list with request for a personally signed return receipt. In any proceeding wherein service of summons by mail is in issue, evidence of the due mailing of the summons by the clerk or a member of his staff and the presentation of an official postal return receipt purportedly signed by the addressee shall be prima facie evidence that the summons was duly received by the addressee and therefore, that he was properly served therewith. (1985 Code § 6-129; amd. 2004 Code)
4. A jury in the court shall consist of six (6) jurors, good and lawful men or women, citizens of the county of Hughes possessing the qualifications of jurors in district court.
5. After the jurors are sworn, they must sit together and hear the proofs and oral arguments of the parties, which must be delivered in public and in the presence of the defendant.
6. A verdict of the jury may be rendered by the vote of five (5) jurors.
7. In all actions tried before a jury, the judge shall determine all questions of law, including questions as to the introduction of evidence arising during the trial. He also shall instruct the jury as to the law.
8. The verdict of the jury, in all cases, must be general. When the jury has arrived at its verdict, it must deliver the verdict publicly to the court. The judge must enter the verdict in the docket or cause it to be so entered.
9. The jury must not be discharged after the cause is submitted to it until a verdict is rendered, unless the judge, for good cause, discharges it sooner, in which event the court may proceed again to trial, and so on, until a verdict is rendered. (1985 Code § 6-129)
D. Compensation Of Jurors: Jurors shall receive for their services a fee as set by the city per day, plus mileage for each mile necessarily traveled by the most direct route in going to and from the court from their respective places of residence. The claims for such compensation shall show the location of the juror's residence and the route and miles traveled, and must be verified as other claims against the city are verified. Jurors shall be paid out of the general funds of the city. (1985 Code § 6-131)