§ 15-12-42 - Selection of jurors; use of jury boxes; mechanical or electronic means of selection; contract for drawing of jurors
O.C.G.A. 15-12-42 (2010)
15-12-42. Selection of jurors; use of jury boxes; mechanical or electronic means of selection; contract for drawing of jurors
(a) Nonmechanical procedure.
(1) The jury commissioners shall place tickets containing all the names of grand jurors in a box to be provided at public expense, which box shall contain compartments marked number "one" and number "two," from which grand jurors shall be drawn; the commissioners shall place the tickets containing all the names of trial jurors in a separate box from which trial jurors shall be drawn, the box having two separate compartments similar in design to the grand jurors' box. The tickets with the jurors' names shall be placed in compartment number "one." When each ticket is drawn and the name thereon is recorded on the proper form or list, the ticket so drawn shall be placed in compartment number "two." Only when all the tickets have been drawn from compartment number "one" may the process of drawing jurors' names from compartment number "two" begin, and then only when all the tickets have been drawn from compartment number "two" may the process of drawing jurors' names from compartment number "one" begin again.
(2) There shall only be one trial jury box for each county, that being the trial jury box prepared for the use of the superior court of each county.
(3) All trial jurors' names for use in any court in the county shall be drawn from the one trial jury box. The judge of any court shall draw the jurors' names as the need for the services of jurors shall arise in his court. The judge of any court held outside of the county courthouse using the trial jury box shall draw his juries in the courthouse and in the presence of the clerk or a deputy clerk of the superior court.
(b) Mechanical or electronic procedure.
(1) In lieu of the procedure set forth in subsection (a) of this Code section, the chief judge of the superior court in any county having facilities available for the implementation of this subsection, with the concurrence of the other judge or judges of the superior court, may establish a plan for the selection of persons to serve as jurors in such county by mechanical or electronic means. The plan shall be established by a duly published and filed rule of the court. The clerk of the superior court, as clerk of the board of jury commissioners, shall implement and maintain the jury selection process established by the plan.
(2) The plan:
(A) Shall provide for a fair, impartial, and objective method of selecting persons for jury service with the aid of mechanical or electronic equipment, using the jury boxes compiled in accordance with Code Section 15-12-40;
(B) Shall contain adequate safeguards relative to the creation, handling, maintenance, processing, and storage of magnetic tapes, data banks, and other materials and records used in the selection process;
(C) Shall contain such other regulations and guidelines as are necessary to fully implement this subsection and to facilitate the use of the plan for the selection of persons for jury service by all of the courts in such county; and
(D) May be amended from time to time as necessary to keep the entire jury selection process updated.
(3) In any county in which a plan has been established under this subsection such plan shall conform as nearly as practicable to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (a) of this Code section. However, where the computer data storage cell is used as the jury box, the provisions contained in such paragraphs shall not apply.
(4) In any county having facilities available for the implementation of this subsection, the chief judge of the superior court, with the concurrence of the other judge or judges of the superior court, may establish a plan by a duly published and filed rule of court for the trial and grand jury boxes for the county to be taken from the trial or grand jury lists established by the board of jury commissioners by mechanical or electronic procedures. Such plan:
(A) Shall provide for a fair, impartial, and objective method of selecting persons for inclusion in the trial or grand jury box with the aid of mechanical or electronic equipment and for a system of allowing jurors the greatest opportunity to serve, using the jury lists compiled by the board of jury commissioners in accordance with Code Section 15-12-40;
(B) Shall contain adequate safeguards relative to the creation, handling, maintenance, processing, and storage of magnetic tapes, data banks, and other materials and records used in the process of composing and maintaining the trial and grand jury boxes;
(C) Shall contain such other regulations and guidelines as are necessary to fully implement this subsection; and
(D) May be amended from time to time as necessary to keep the trial and grand jury box composition process updated.
(c) Contract for mechanical or electronic juror selection. A county utilizing mechanical or electronic means for the selection of jurors may, under proper court rule, contract for the drawing of their respective trial and grand jurors with any entity with which a county may contract under Article IX, Section III, Paragraph I, subparagraph (a) of the Constitution and with any private business or entity within this state, but any such contract shall ensure that proper safeguards are maintained as provided in paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this Code section. The drawing may be held outside of the county so contracting by a judge of the circuit or his designee upon proper posting and advertising in the county legal organ of the rule of court allowing this service to be performed for the county.