Reschedule Jury Duty
If the date for which you have been
summoned is inconvenient, you may reschedule your appearance date. You
are allowed to reschedule your jury service a maximum of two times
within a six month period (Govt.Code 62.0142). If the court to which you
have been summoned does not have scheduled summons dates for the next
six month period you will be limited to the dates available for that
court.
However,
please be aware that once you reschedule your JURY appearance
date you will not be allowed to reschedule to a date prior to the
rescheduled date.
A jury is a sworn body of
persons convened to render a rational, impartial verdict and a
finding of fact on a legal question officially submitted to them, or
to set a penalty or judgment in a jury trial of a court of law. The
petit jury or trial jury hears the evidence in a case and decides
the disputed facts and usually consists of 12 jurors, although in
Scotland 15 jurors are allotted.
A jury trial should not be confused with grand jury
proceedings. The jury used for a trial can be referred to as a
"petit jury" to distinguish it from a grand jury, used for
indictments.
In the United States every person accused of a felony has a
constitutional right to a trial by jury, which arises from
the 6th amendment (made applicable to the states through the
Fourteenth Amendment) that states in part: "In all criminal
prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein
the crime shall have been committed..." Most states' constitutions
also grant the right of trial by jury in lesser criminal matters,
though most have abrogated that right in offenses punishable by fine
only.
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