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Section
175.01 Persons liable to service
175.02 Exemptions and disqualifications
175.03 Jury Commissioners
175.04 Jury list
175.05 Selection of trial jurors
175.06 Discharge of jurors
175.07 Competency of jurors
175.08 Penalty for failure to draw or summon jurors
175.09 Compensation of jurors; taxation of jury fees as cost; disposition of fees
175.10 Fraud in selection of jurors
Cross-references:
Petit juries, see W. Va. Code Ch. 52-1
The Judge of the Municipal Court may, in his or her discretion, exempt or excuse any person from jury service when it appears that such service would be improper or work an undue hardship. The following persons shall be disqualified from serving as jurors: idiots; lunatics; paupers; vagabonds; habitual drunkards; and persons convicted of infamous crimes. Any person over the age of 65 years of age shall, upon written request to the Judge, be excused from jury service.
(a) There shall be two Jury Commissioners of the Court. They shall be citizens of good standing and residents in the city. The chairperson of a political party shall be ineligible for appointment.
(b) Jury Commissioners shall be appointed by the Municipal Judge. The terms of office shall be four years and shall commence upon appointments.
(c) Jury Commissioners may be removed from office by the Municipal Judge for official misconduct, incompetency, habitual drunkenness, neglect of duty, or gross immorality. Vacancies caused by death, resignation, or otherwise shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointments.
(d) Jury Commissioners shall receive as compensation for their services, while necessarily employed, an amount to be fixed by the Municipal Judge of the Court, which amount shall not exceed $50 per day of actual service, which shall be payable out of the city treasury upon orders of the Municipal Judge.
(e) Before entering upon the discharge of his or her duties, a Jury Commissioner shall take and subscribe, before the Clerk of the Court, who is hereby authorized to administer the same, an oath, to be filed and preserved by him or her in his or her office, to the following effect:
“State of West Virginia,
County of Tucker, to-wit:
I, __________________________ do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this State and will faithfully discharge the duties of Jury Commissioner to the best of my skill and judgment, and that I will not place any person upon the jury list in violation of law, or out of fear, favor, or affection.”
(a) The Jury Commissioners shall annually, at such time as may be designated by order of the Court, prepare a list of such inhabitants of city, not exempted or disqualified by law as aforesaid, as they shall think well qualified to serve as jurors, being persons of sound judgment, of good character, and free from legal exception, which list shall include not less than 100 nor more than 400 persons. The name of no person shall be put on such list who shall have been drawn and who actually served as a petit juror in any court of record within a period of two years prior thereto, or who shall have requested the Jury Commissioners or either of them, by himself or another person, to have his or her name placed on such list; and any such person shall be disqualified from serving as a juror for the period of two years from the date of such service or from the time of making such request.
(b) The list so prepared shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Court and by him or her be safely kept. It shall be subject to inspection only by the Court, the Jury Commissioners, or the Clerk of the Court, as hereinafter prescribed. Such Court, or the Jury Commissioners, may strike from such list the name of any person who has been convicted of any scandalous offense or been guilty of any gross immorality, and substitute another in his or her place.
(c) At the time such list is made out, the Jury Commissioners shall also cause all the names upon the same to be fairly written, each on a separate paper or ballot, and shall fold or roll up the ballots so regarding resemble each other as nearly as may be and so that the name written thereon shall not be visible on the outside, and shall deposit the ballots in a secure box, to be prepared for the purpose, which shall be known as the “Jury box” and shall be safely kept by the Clerk of the Court, and shall be opened only by the order of the Jury Commissioners or as hereinafter prescribed.
(a) All jurors required for the trial of cases in the Court shall be selected by drawing ballots from the jury box in the manner prescribed in this article, and the persons whose names are written on the ballots so drawn shall be returned to serve as jurors.
(b) The Clerk of the Court, at the discretion of the Municipal Judge, shall, at least 15 days before any jury may be wanted, issue a venire fascias for 30 jurors, unless the Court shall order a greater or lesser number, in which event the writ shall issue for such other number. Such writ shall require the attendance of the jurors on such day as the Municipal Judge may order.
(c) The jurors chosen in accordance with division (B) above shall be chosen by the Jury Commissioners. The Clerk of the Court shall issue a summons requiring the Jury Commissioners to attend at the office of the Clerk of the Court on a day named in such summons which shall be not less than five days after the issuance of such summons for the purpose of drawing the ballots for the number of jurors mentioned in such writ.
(d) The writ of venire fascias and summons shall be delivered to the Chief of Police, or other officer acting in lieu of the Chief, who shall serve the summons on the Jury Commissioners, and it shall be the duty of the Jury Commissioners to attend on the day designated in the summons at the office of the Clerk of the Court and, in the presence of the Clerk, to draw the proper number of jurors’ names from the jury box, and to make a list thereof to be delivered to the officers serving the summons.
(e) (1) If either or both of the Jury Commissioners fail to attend as required by such summons, the Clerk of the Court shall appoint a special Jury Commissioner or commissioners, having the qualifications herein required, to act in his or her or their place and stead for the time being, and such jurors shall be drawn by such commissioners; and it shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Court to place the list thereof in the hands of the Chief of Police or other officer authorized to summon them. It shall be the duty of such officer, at least three days before the time when the jurors are required to attend, to summon each person who is drawn to attend the sitting of the Court at the time and place mentioned in the writ, and make due return thereof, and of the summons aforesaid to such Court at the opening thereof.
(2) In addition to any other method provided by law, any person named in the writs of venire fascias or a summons for jurors, by direction of the Court, may be served by the Chief of Police mailing a copy thereof to such person commanding him or her to attend as a juror at a time and place designated therein, which copy shall be registered or certified and deposited in the post office, addressed to such person at his or her usual post office address. The personal receipt of the person so addressed for such registered or certified copy shall be regarded as personal service of such writ or summons upon such person.
(f) When jurors’ names are to be drawn as aforesaid, the ballots in the jury box shall be shaken and mixed together by one of the Jury Commissioners and the other Jury Commissioner shall openly draw therefrom as many ballots (without inspecting the names written on any until the proper number is drawn) as shall be equal to the number of jurors required; and if any person whose name is so drawn is unable by reason of sickness, absence from home, or other cause to attend as a juror, his or her name shall, at the conclusion of such draft, be returned into the box; or if he or she be exempted by law or his or her name has been stricken from the jury list, the ballot shall be destroyed and another shall be drawn in its stead.
(g) When any person is drawn and returned to serve as aforesaid, the Jury Commissioners shall cause to be endorsed on the ballot containing his or her name the word “drawn”, and shall cause it to be placed in another box to be kept for the purpose of custody of the Clerk of the Court, and opened only as hereinafter prescribed; and the date of the draft shall be entered on the list of jurors opposite the name of the person so drawn.
(h) When all the ballots in the jury box have been destroyed or placed in the box for the ballots, marked “drawn”, except such as contain the names of those who, for the reasons aforesaid, are unable to attend, the last mentioned box shall be opened in the presence of the officers attending to draw jurors, and the ballots therein replaced in the jury box, from which drafts shall thereafter again be made in the manner herein prescribed.
(i) If any person duly summoned to attend as a juror shall neglect to attend, without any sufficient excuse, he or she shall pay a fine not exceeding $50, which shall be imposed by the Municipal Court.
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