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Print This PageJury Duty
If you register to vote, you will not automatically be called for jury duty. Voter registration is not the primary source for jury selection.
General Information
The jury summons you receive in the mail will tell you the time and location to report. On the day before you are summoned to report for jury duty, you should call the jury status number (912) 653-3872 option # 7 for any final instructions or changes to the number of jurors needing to report.
Telephone Numbers
Superior Court Jury Clerk (912) 653-3871
Juror Compensation
For each day you serve or are required to report, you will be paid $35.00.
Proper Attire
Court participation is a serious responsibility. Your behavior and attire should reflect the decorum and respect due the legal system at this county. You should dress comfortably and appropriately. Examples of inappropriate attire include tank tops, shirts with messages, slogans or advertisements, shorts, torn denims, bare midriff, and bare feet.
Exemptions
OCGA Section 15-12-1 provides
(a) Any person who shows that he will be engaged during his term of jury duty in work necessary to the public health, safety, or good order or who shows other good cause why he should be exempt from jury duty may be excused by the judge of the court to which he or she has been summoned or by some other person who has been duly appointed by order of the chief judge to excuse jurors. Such a person may exercise such authority only after the establishment by court order of guidelines governing excuses. Any order of appointment shall provide that, except for permanently mentally or physically disabled persons, all excuses shall be deferred to a date and time certain within that term or the next succeeding term or shall be deferred as set forth in the court order.
(b) Any person who is 70 years of age or older shall be entitled to request the board of jury commissioners to remove such person's name from the jury list of the county. Upon such request the board of jury commissioners shall be authorized and directed to remove the person's name from the jury list. The request shall be made to the board or its clerk in writing and shall be accompanied by an affidavit giving the person's name, age, and such other information as the board may require. The board of jury commissioners of each county shall make available affidavit forms for the purposes of this subsection.
Deferrals
Deferrals are permitted only under extreme circumstances. All deferrals will be post-poned to a date within the next term of court. To request a deferral, please refer to the summons instructions and follow them carefully.
Jury lists are compiled by the jury commission of the county. The jury commission is composed of six persons who are appointed for six-year terms by the chief judge of the circuit. Jury commissioners serve staggered terms, with two commissioners rotating off the commission each year.
Federal and Georgia laws require that the jury pool of the county must be in alignment with the latest decennial census of the county. The most recent decennial census was occurred in 2000. There cannot be greater than five percent disparity between the number of females, males, blacks and whites in the county and the percentage in the jury pool for each category. The clerk of superior court is required by statute to maintain the jury lists of the superior court. A court rule of the circuit requires the clerk to manage juries and confers upon the clerk the power to defer and excuse jurors selected for jury duty.
All jurors, once summoned for jury duty, are required to serve. The only reasons for excusal from jury service provided for by law are:
(1) death;
(2) a permanent physical or mental disability (in which case an affidavit must be provided by a medical doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist);
(3) a felony conviction;
(4) residency (that is, the juror no longer resides in the county); and
(5) active military duty.
A juror may be deferred for one term of court if the juror is:
(1) temporarily physically or mentally unable to serve (an affidavit from a medical doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist must be provided);
(2) the sole provider of care for a child or children under the age of five and no one else is available to provide such care;
(3) the provider of care for an ill or disabled family member; or
(4) employed in a job necessary to the public well-being (such as a police officer, medical doctor, or nurse) and no one is available on the date the juror has been summoned for court to take the juror’s place.
Rebecca G. Crowe serves as the Jury Clerk.
