Selection Fields
Legislative Intent
N/A
Definitions
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Source of jury master lists are drawn (e.g., voter registration, state income tax, etc. )?
RI Gen Laws § 9-9-1. Persons liable to service -- Voting operator's licenses, Rhode Island identification card, state income tax returns and unemployment compensation as evidence
(a) A person is liable to serve as a juror if the person is:
(1) A citizen of the United States; and
(2) At least eighteen (18) years of age; and
(3) A resident of Rhode Island who either:
(i) Resides in the county where the person is registered to vote;
(ii) Is licensed to operate a motor vehicle within this state; or
(iii) Possesses a Rhode Island identification card issued pursuant to the provisions of §§ 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1; or
(iv) Is an individual filing a state income tax return; or
(v) Is an individual recipient of unemployment compensation.
(b) The list of qualified electors of each town and city as made up by the board of canvassers thereof, at its last meeting prior to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even numbered year, and the duly certified records of the administrator of the division of motor vehicles shall be conclusive evidence of the liability of each person to serve as provided in this chapter, unless in the case of a qualified elector the name of the person has been removed from the list of qualified electors of that town or city on which the name of that person appears prior to being summoned to appear in court as a juror, and except as provided in this chapter. The jury commissioner shall notify the clerk of the board of canvassers and registration of each particular city or town when it appears that a person on a list of qualified jurors does not reside at the address on the list. The board of canvassers and registration, after due notice to the person, shall challenge the listing thereof and after a hearing thereon may remove that person from the list.
(c) The division of motor vehicles shall forward to the jury commissioner the names of licensed drivers and the names of those persons who possess Rhode Island identification cards issued pursuant to the provisions of §§ 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1 in the state on a yearly basis.
(d) The division of taxation shall forward to the jury commissioner the names of all individuals who have filed a state income tax return, on a yearly basis.
(e) The department of labor and training shall forward to the jury commissioner the names of all individuals who are receiving unemployment compensation, on a yearly basis.
Drawing of juror names from list
RI Gen Laws § 9-9-14.1. Selection of jurors by use of electronic data processing equipment
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the jury commissioner may, with approval of the presiding justice of the superior court, select jurors from the registered voters of the several cities and towns as deemed necessary by the jury commission for the several counties of the state by means of the use of electronic data processing equipment, now or hereafter owned or leased by the state of Rhode Island, whenever the secretary of state shall certify to the jury commissioner that the equipment has been furnished with the names of all persons who are registered voters in the cities and towns. In such event, the jury commissioner shall supervise the electronic data processing machine operator in order to carry out the drawing in such a way that neither the jury commissioner nor the operator of the device shall be able to determine any name until the name has actually been drawn. After the drawing has been carried out in accordance herewith, the jury commissioner shall cause the electronic data processing machine operator to have the electronic data processing machine compile a list, by county, randomly mixing the names so drawn. Members of the public and press shall be admitted to the place of electronic data selection, to the extent that space and area may allow.
RI Gen Laws § 9-9-14.2. Time of selections
Whenever jurors are drawn by the use of electronic data processing equipment, in accordance with the provisions of § 9-9-14.1, the drawing shall take place at such dates and times during the month of March of each year as may be selected by the jury commissioner, with the approval of the presiding justice of the superior court, and drawings may be held at other times throughout the year, if deemed necessary by the jury commissioner and the presiding justice.
§ 9-9-23. Investigation of names drawn -- Lists of persons well qualified to serve
(a) The jury commissioner, either personally or by such assistant as he or she may employ as provided in § 9-9-7, shall investigate the names of all persons drawn as provided in § 9-9-14.1, and as far as possible in the order in which the names appear upon the lists. The investigation may be made by the mailing of questionnaires to such persons, or by other written inquiries deemed by the jury commissioner to be appropriate, but where the jury commissioner considers further investigation to be necessary or desirable, the investigation may include a personal interview by the jury commissioner or by one of his or her duly appointed assistants. The jury commissioner shall make lists of all grand and petit jurors for each town not exempted as provided in § 9-9-3, and in the order in which they were originally drawn, as he or she shall deem well qualified to serve, being persons of good moral character, of sound judgment, and free from all exception, which lists shall be kept on file in the office of the jury commissioner. The jury commissioner shall preserve a full record of the investigation, which shall not be disclosed to any person except by order of a justice of the superior court, or by order of the chief judge or associate justice of the family court, and may summon before him or her any person subject to serve as a juror, or any person who in the jury commissioner's opinion has particular knowledge of a juror's fitness to serve as a juror, and for this purpose may administer oaths, and have the same powers as are by law provided for the summoning of witnesses by a coroner. Any person so summoned shall be entitled to the same fees as a witness summoned before a coroner. No rejection of a juror by the jury commissioner shall take final effect until it has been approved by a justice of the superior court, appointed for this purpose by the presiding justice, and he or she may appoint different justices from time to time for each county. A justice of the family court who has been appointed by the chief judge for the purpose of considering the recommendations of the jury commissioner concerning the fitness of jurors may also reject jurors. The chief judge may appoint different justices from time to time for each county.
(b) The jury commissioner shall not place any person upon the list who is not qualified as provided in § 9-9-1.1, nor shall he or she fail to place any person upon the list who is qualified, and if the commissioner or any of his or her assistants shall willfully violate any of the provisions of this section they shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars ($ 1,000) or be imprisoned for the term of not more than one year, or both.
History
§ 9-10-12. Drawing and impaneling of trial jury
On the day when the petit jurors are summoned to attend at a court in any court for the trial of either civil or criminal cases, the clerk shall cause the name and place of abode of each person summoned as a juror to be written upon a separate paper, all of which papers shall be as nearly as may be of the same size, and shall cause them to be placed in a box provided for that purpose. When a case is brought on to be tried, the clerk in open court shall shake the papers thoroughly and shall then draw out twelve (12) papers in criminal cases or six (6) papers in civil cases, one after the other, or such other number as ordered by the court. If any of the persons whose names are so drawn do not appear, or are excused, or are set aside, the clerk shall draw out other papers until the names of an appropriate number of jurors are drawn who appear and are not excused or set aside. The jurors shall be duly sworn and impaneled, and shall be the jury to try the issue, and one of them shall be appointed foreperson by the court. The names of the jurors so sworn shall be kept by themselves and, when the verdict of the jury has been recorded or when the jury has been discharged by consent of parties or by leave of court, shall be returned to the box; and this process shall be repeated in each case when an issue is brought on to be tried by the jury; but if an issue is so brought on before the verdict in any other case has been recorded or the jury in the case has been discharged, the court may order a jury for the trial of such issue to be impaneled by drawing, in the manner provided, of papers from those then remaining in the box.
Procedure for Summoning Jurors
§ 9-10-3. Service of summons by jury commissioner
Whenever on receipt of a notice from the clerk of the superior or family court for grand or petit jurors it shall appear to the jury commissioner to be impossible to get the returns from the officer or officers who customarily serve the summons in proper time for the commissioner to make his or her returns to the clerk of the court, or upon consent of the town sergeant of the town where any juror resides, in accordance herewith, then the jury commissioner or some person connected with his or her office designated by him or her for such purpose may serve the summons upon any such jurors as have been listed for service at a session of the court; provided, that when any such summons is served by the jury commissioner or person designated by him or her, the town or city in which the service is made shall not be liable for the payment of the fee mentioned in § 9-10-2.
Prohibition of Discrimination Against Jurors
§ 9-9-2. Exclusion for race, color, or previous servitude, disability, or gender prohibited
No citizen, possessing all other qualifications which are or shall be prescribed by law, shall be disqualified for service as a grand or petit juror in any court of this state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, disability, or gender; and any officer or other person, charged with any duty in the selection or summoning of jurors, who shall willfully exclude or fail to select or summon any citizen for any of the causes provided shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars ($ 1,000).
Qualifications
RI Gen Laws § 9-9-1.1. Qualifications of jurors
(a) A person is qualified to serve as a juror if the person is:
(1) A citizen of the United States; and
(2) A resident of Rhode Island who either:
(i) Resides in the county where the person is registered to vote; or
(ii) Is licensed to operate a motor vehicle within this state; or
(iii) Possesses a Rhode Island identification card issued pursuant to the provisions of §§ 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1; or
(iv) Is an individual filing a state income tax return; or
(v) Is an individual recipient of unemployment compensation.
(3) At least 18 years of age;
(4) Able to understand and participate in the court proceedings; and
(5) Physically and mentally capable of performing in a reasonable manner the duties of a juror.
(b) No person shall be allowed to serve as a juror if he or she has been lawfully adjudicated to be non compos mentis.
(c) No person convicted of a felony shall be allowed to serve as a juror, until completion of such felon's sentence, served or suspended, and of parole or probation regardless of a nolo contendere plea.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a)(4) and (5), a person with a disability shall not be ineligible to serve as a juror solely on the basis of his or her disability, and if that person meets the above requirements, with reasonable accommodations if necessary, he or she shall be deemed a qualified juror.
(e) Nothing in this section shall prevent the court from disqualifying a prospective juror because he or she lacks a faculty or has a disability which will prevent the potential juror from being a competent juror in a particular case.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit a party's right to preemptorially challenge jurors.
RI Gen Laws § 9-9-1. Persons liable to service -- Voting operator's licenses, Rhode Island identification card, state income tax returns and unemployment compensation as evidence
(a) A person is liable to serve as a juror if the person is:
(1) A citizen of the United States; and
(2) At least eighteen (18) years of age; and
(3) A resident of Rhode Island who either:
(i) Resides in the county where the person is registered to vote;
(ii) Is licensed to operate a motor vehicle within this state; or
(iii) Possesses a Rhode Island identification card issued pursuant to the provisions of §§ 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1; or
(iv) Is an individual filing a state income tax return; or
(v) Is an individual recipient of unemployment compensation.
(b) The list of qualified electors of each town and city as made up by the board of canvassers thereof, at its last meeting prior to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even numbered year, and the duly certified records of the administrator of the division of motor vehicles shall be conclusive evidence of the liability of each person to serve as provided in this chapter, unless in the case of a qualified elector the name of the person has been removed from the list of qualified electors of that town or city on which the name of that person appears prior to being summoned to appear in court as a juror, and except as provided in this chapter. The jury commissioner shall notify the clerk of the board of canvassers and registration of each particular city or town when it appears that a person on a list of qualified jurors does not reside at the address on the list. The board of canvassers and registration, after due notice to the person, shall challenge the listing thereof and after a hearing thereon may remove that person from the list.
(c) The division of motor vehicles shall forward to the jury commissioner the names of licensed drivers and the names of those persons who possess Rhode Island identification cards issued pursuant to the provisions of §§ 3-8-6 and 3-8-6.1 in the state on a yearly basis.
(d) The division of taxation shall forward to the jury commissioner the names of all individuals who have filed a state income tax return, on a yearly basis.
(e) The department of labor and training shall forward to the jury commissioner the names of all individuals who are receiving unemployment compensation, on a yearly basis.
§ 9-10-11.2. Qualification and division of petit jury panels
The presiding justice of the superior court and the chief judge of the family court may assign a justice of those courts or the jury commissioner for the purpose of qualifying petit jurors and dividing the petit jury panels into subpanels. The assigned justice shall order the panel of petit jurors to be divided into two (2) or more subpanels, constituting of not less than twenty-five (25) members each in criminal cases and fifteen (15) members each in civil cases, so that juries may be impaneled from less than the total number summoned in several courtrooms and in civil and criminal cases at the same time; and the assigned justice may thereafter order the consolidation of several subpanels or all of them or may order additions to each of them from other subpanels and may continue, in like manner, as often as he or she shall deem it to be necessary to accomplish the purpose of this section. The subdivision of the panel into subpanels and additions to the subpanels shall be by lot and the names of jurors so drawn by lot shall be placed in a box provided for that purpose.
Disqualifications
"b) No person shall be allowed to serve as a juror if he or she has been lawfully adjudicated to be non compos mentis.
(c) No person convicted of a felony shall be allowed to serve as a juror, until completion of such felon's sentence, served or suspended, and of parole or probation regardless of a nolo contendere plea.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a)(4) and (5), a person with a disability shall not be ineligible to serve as a juror solely on the basis of his or her disability, and if that person meets the above requirements, with reasonable accommodations if necessary, he or she shall be deemed a qualified juror.
(e) Nothing in this section shall prevent the court from disqualifying a prospective juror because he or she lacks a faculty or has a disability which will prevent the potential juror from being a competent juror in a particular case.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit a party's right to preemptorially challenge jurors." (R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-9-1.1)
Excusal or Exemptions
§ 9-9-3. Persons exempt from service
The following persons shall be exempted from serving as jurors, unless such persons shall waive their exemption, namely: the members of congress from the state of Rhode Island, the general officers of the state, the members and officers of the general assembly during their tenure of office irrespective of whether the general assembly is in session or not, the jury commissioner and his or her assistants, the justices of the state and United States courts, clerks of those courts, practicing attorneys-at-law, correctional officers, deputy sheriffs, probation and parole officers, members of any paid police force of the state or of any city or town, members of any paid fire department of any city or town, and members of the armed services on active duty.
Limited Frequency of Jury Service
§ 9-10-7. Disqualification by prior jury service
No person summoned shall be qualified to serve as a juror who has served as a juror within three (3) years next preceding the time when he or she shall be so summoned; and the court shall, upon calling the person so summoned, inquire of him or her if he or she has so served.
Who handles excusals is prescribed?
**A justice of the superior court or the family court; or the jury commissioner**
RI Gen Laws § 9-10-9. Grounds for excuse from service
A justice of the superior court or the family court, or the jury commissioner, may excuse a person from jury duty or may continue the date of the service upon a showing of mental or physical disability, illness, or the serious illness of some member of his or her immediate family, economic or domestic hardship, or other good cause; provided, that he or she may be required to serve his or her term or the remainder thereof, as the case may be, on an emergency panel of jurors, if such a panel is deemed necessary by the jury commissioner or the presiding justice of the superior or family court. The discretion to so excuse may be exercised by the appropriate party at any time during the selection or assignment of jurors.
Deferral/Postponement of jury service allowed
N/A
Number of petit jurors for jury trial is prescribed?
**NOT SPECIFIED**
RI Gen Laws § 9-10-1. Notice by court of jurors required -- Notifications to sergeants and constables
From time to time as occasion may require, the superior court or family court shall direct notices to be sent by the clerk thereof to the jury commissioner that there will be required for the county or counties for which the court is held a certain number of grand or petit jurors and the time and place at which they are required to attend. And the jury commissioner, on receiving the notice, shall take from the list of jurors qualified as provided in chapter 9 of this title, in the order in which their names appear on the jury list, so many names as may be required to ensure the attendance of the number of jurors required by the court and shall issue notifications to the city or town sergeant or any certified constable, either in person, or by one of his or her assistants, or by registered or certified mail, and under his or her hand and seal, designating who are grand and petit jurors, and the time and place at which the jurors are required to attend. Upon consent of the town sergeant of the town where any juror resides, the jury commissioner may retain the notifications for service by the jury commissioner or his or her agents.
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