The folks at the Office of Court Administration who draft the model jury summons and questionnaires have received complaints over the years from citizens who do not want to answer certain questions on the questionnaire, so OCA is considering some revisions.

Some of the requested information on the current questionnaire is required by statute (Section 62.0132 of the Government Code) and some is not. The information that is not required is:

1) date of birth;
2) home phone;
3) work phone;
4) length of time at current employer;
5) spouse's length of time at current employer;
6) whether the person has ever served on a civil or criminal jury; and
7) number of children and their age range.

They are considering eliminating some or all of these questions from the model juror questionnaire since state law does not require them, but they also do not want to cause problems for practitioners.

What are your thoughts, and why?

The dates of birth are very important for looking up criminal histories.

The number and ages of children are very important--I voir dire about kids in all my cases.

Work history is important, also.

I generally do not worry over home phone numbers.

Having length of employment, previous jury experience, and the number and ages of children is important. I usually ask follow up questions depending upon the type of the case. If the form eliminates those questions, I would have to ask them of each juror and ask the judge to lengthen my time for voir dire. Some judges give time, but I understand that in some jurisdictions the time factor is pretty tight.

I wanted the information back in my dark days as defense counsel, too.

Of those questions the only info I don't care about is phone numbers. I like to know the person I am choosing to sit on my juries has a stable work record, has children (or not depending on the case) and I especially want to know if they have served on a prior jury and whether or not they reached a verdict.

OCA needs to be aware that the answers to those questions are protected from general disclosure. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art 35.29. I have had to go to the mat several times to protect that info from defendants, cranks, and purported journalism. My old county was very serious about collecting juror cards so that they wouldn't end up in the hands of identity thieves and hit men.

I would think at least one contact number would be important to have on hand, as we recently learned here when we had to reschedule a bunch of people on too short of notice for a letter.

Everyone has already mentioned most of the reasons for the others. I'd think especially if you have a case involving a child or some kind of parent/child conflict, you'd want to know in advance if you have jurors with young children.

All of those questions can be important, including phone numbers. I learn a great deal about trying cases by calling jurors after the trial is over. This is especially true when you have a hung jury and you'll have to re-try the case.

In fact, they need to add a question: What is your religion? That can be very important.

Q: But Breen, if you use knowledge of the venireman's religion in making voir dire choices, aren't you stereotyping?

A: Yes I am. I find that stereotypes have a certain validity to them, and in any case, are far better than a random shot in the dark.

Q: But Breen: Aren't you being Politically Incorrect?
A: Yes I am. But it's more important to see that justice is done than to be P.C.

So there you have it, Shannon. Tell them we need all of those questions, plus one more on their religion.

We've got religion as a question here. And you bet I use the answer.

quote:

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Originally posted by Terry Breen:
So there you have it, Shannon. Tell them we need all of those questions, plus one more on their religion.

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We always asked the religious question on Travis County cards, too. Some of the answers from Travis County's fine citizenry were ... interesting, to say the least.

The DOB concerns me the most, since that is necessary to weed out any disqualified jurors and protect the finality of the case. Does everyone run their jurors' criminal histories? If so, who does it, and when do you do it? We used to have to scramble to have our investigators or other authorized personnel do it over lunch (after we got the list but before voir dire started) -- it was always hectic, but very necessary.

This is good input, people -- keep it coming!

I use all of that information, Shannon.

I like to know a date of birth. Sometimes you cannot tell from appearance or after voir dire during selection, you want to recall how old a panelist is.

I draw a great deal of information from the length of time at a workplace, both of the spouse and the prospective juror.

It is essential to know how many children and their age range, when trying any crime that has a child as a victim. THIS SHOULD ALWAYS BE ON THERE. It saves me from having to ask and try to record the ages during voir dire.

Likewise, I like to know about prior jury experience. I can then single them out and ask:
1. were you able to reach a verdict
2. if criminal, did your jury render punishment
3. type of case.

Religion can be important too, if for no other reason than to single out or be aware of members of religions amongst who tenets include not judging other. In a small community, members of smaller organized religions often know each other, and even if they do not claim to know defendant, I would like to be able to single those folks out who belong to the same organizations and ask them specifically if they know each other.

I agree; we've got to keep all the information. By taking it out, we'd have to waste valuable time during voir dire to get the information from each member.

Our investigators know when someone's going to be in trial, so, there is usually someone immediately available as soon as we get the jury list. I usually get the results before the defense gets a chance to start their voir dire. When someone has a problematic criminal history, I add them to the list to approach the Court.

For Williamson County, we find it very helpful to know how long the person has been a resident of the county. A person with roots in the community will likely be more invested in the process than a newcomer from California.