A. In all prosecutions in the municipal court for any offense for which the municipality, with the concurrence of the court, seeks imposition of a fine of more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) excluding court costs, or imprisonment, or both such fine and imprisonment, a jury trial shall be had unless waived by the defendant and the municipality. In prosecutions for all other offenses, or in cases wherein a jury trial is waived by the defendant and the municipality, trial shall be to the court. At arraignment, the defendant shall be asked whether he demands or waives trial by jury and this election shall be recorded in the minutes of the arraignment and entered on the docket of the court respecting proceedings in the case. The City Attorney or Assistant City Attorney may announce at the time of the arraignment or at any time at least two weeks prior to trial, that the maximum fine in the case shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00) or less and that no jail time will be imposed; such announcement shall then be binding on the court.
B. List Of Jurors:
1. Drawing Of Names: 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 criminal 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.
2. Time Limit; Additional Drawing: 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.
3. Compliance With State Law: 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. (1980 Code § 11-82)
C. Juror's Summons:
1. Form: 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 Kay )
To (name of juror) Greeting: You hereby are summoned to appear in the Municipal Criminal Court for the City of Ponca City, Oklahoma, to be held at (specify the address, room number, etc.) on the day of , 20 , at the hour of (specify hour) 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 .
Seal of Court Clerk of the Municipal Criminal Court
of the City of Ponca City, Oklahoma
(1980 Code § 11-83)
2. Service: Service of juror's summons 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 this 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. (1980 Code § 11-84)
D. Composition Of Jury: A jury in the court shall consist of six (6) jurors, good and lawful men or women, residents of the city possessing the qualifications of jurors in district court. (1980 Code §11-85)
E. Duty Of Jurors: 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. (1980 Code § 11-86)
F. Votes Required For Verdict: A verdict of the jury may be rendered by the vote of five (5) jurors. (1980 Code § 11-87)
G. Duties Of Judge: 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. (1980 Code § 11-88)
H. Nature Of Verdict: 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. (1980 Code § 11-89)
I. Discharge Restricted: 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. (1980 Code § 11-90)
J. Fees: Jurors shall receive for their services such sum as provided by statute for municipal courts not of record, or in the absence of such statute, then as provided for jurors in criminal trials in the district courts. Jurors shall be paid out of the general funds of the city. (1980 Code § 11-91; amd. 2003 Code; amd. Ord. 6267, 5-28-2019)