MISSOULA - Missoula County residents may see a new postcard arriving in their mailbox. As of Friday, May 20 the Missoula County Clerk of District Court’s office sent 10,000 notice of jury mailers. For the first time, the questionnaire as to qualification for jury service is now being collected online; a shift that will eliminate postage costs for the potential juror and the county.
“We are looking to ease this process within District Court for our citizens,” Clerk of Court, Shirley Faust said. “This will allow us to compile the data electronically which results in more efficiencies, accuracy and reduced costs and paper consumption.”
In the past, those selected for potential jury service were mailed packets which they would need to fill out and mail to the Clerk of Court. The envelope and materials were provided by the county but the postage was a cost placed on the individual.
Now, and as the postcard explains, citizens are able to go to http://www.missoulacounty.us/annualnotice to access an electronic, fillable PDF. They then email this to the Clerk of Court’s office, instead of paying to mail a paper copy. Electronic use also better assists members of the disabled community to function in conjunction with personalized software. Hard copies of the questionnaire will continue to be made available through the Clerk of Court’s office by request.
Those who received this mailer were selected from a list generated by the Montana Secretary of State to the Clerks of District Court. This is a combined list of registered voters, licensed drivers and holders of a Montana ID card. It is from this list that the Clerk of District Court has the duty to “pull” jurors for the District Court, Justice Court, Municipal Court and County Coroner.
The number of jurors selected across all courts totaled 20,600 for the 2016 jury term. Montana law does not have a provision for excluding jurors who are serving on the current jury term. All jurors who appear on the list from the Secretary of State in 2016 must be included for selection for this next jury term. This means eligible citizens have about 20 to 25 percent chance of being selected for each jury term.
The Montana statues below further clarify who serves as a juror.
3-15-301. Who competent -- duty to serve. It is the policy of this state that all qualified citizens have an obligation to serve on juries upon being summoned for jury duty, unless excused. Except as provided in 3-15-303, a person is competent to act as a juror if the person is:
(1) 18 years of age or older;
(2) a resident for at least 30 days of the state and of the city, town, or county in which the person is called for jury duty; and
(3) a citizen of the United States.
3-15-303. Who not competent. A person is not competent to act as juror:
(1) who does not possess the qualifications prescribed by 3-15-301; or
(2) who has been convicted of malfeasance in office or any felony or other high crime.
As an important point of clarification, Justice and Municipal Court are mailing questionnaires that cannot be completed electronically. This is a certified method of collecting information and our citizens should not ignore notices, per Montana state law.
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