Chapter 234A

Section 1. This chapter shall apply in every county in the commonwealth which has been designated as a participating county as hereinafter provided. Middlesex county shall be a participating county as of the effective date of this chapter. The supreme judicial court shall designa…

Section 10. On or before the first day of June of each year, each city and town shall make a sequentially numbered list of the names, addresses, and dates of birth of all persons who were seventeen years of age or older as of the first day of January of the current year and who r…

Section 11. On or before the first day of June of each year, each city and town having twenty thousand or more residents on its numbered resident list shall submit to the office of jury commissioner an automated copy of such list. Such automated copy, hereinafter in this chapter …

Section 12. On or before the first day of July of each year, the office of jury commissioner shall determine the number of prospective jurors to be drawn from each city and town. This number shall be as nearly as possible equal to the ratio of the population of the city or town t…

Section 13. On or before the first day of September of each year, the office of the jury commissioner shall randomly select prospective jurors for each city and town from the corresponding numbered resident list or numbered resident file. Each such numbered resident, so identifie…

Section 14. On or before the first day of August of each year, each city and town that has not submitted a numbered resident file pursuant to section eleven of this chapter shall submit to the office of jury commissioner a typewritten list of the randomly selected prospective jur…

Section 15. On or before the first day of September of each year, the office of jury commissioner shall prepare the prospective juror list for each city and town. Each list shall contain the names, addresses, dates of birth, and related information for all randomly selected prosp…

Section 16. On or before the first day of October of each year, the office of jury commissioner shall prepare the master juror list for each judicial district. The master juror list for a judicial district shall contain the aggregate of all prospective juror lists of cities and t…

Section 17. At least twelve weeks prior to the time when the services of grand or trial jurors are required, the clerk of each court requiring such jurors shall send or deliver a letter of venire to the office of jury commissioner. The letter of venire shall state the number of j…

Section 18. At least twelve weeks prior to the commencement of any term of grand or trial juror service, the jury commissioner shall determine, as a matter of discretion, the numbers of jurors to be summoned from each judicial district for grand and trial juror service. In making…

Section 19. At least twelve weeks prior to the commencement of any term of grand or trial juror service, the office of jury commissioner shall summon by first-class mail, grand and trial jurors from the corresponding master juror list to appear for juror service within each judic…

Section 2. The judicial districts for purposes of this chapter shall be the counties unless modified by the supreme judicial court. The supreme judicial court may, by rule of court, define judicial districts for purposes of this chapter which differ in geographical area and popul…

Section 20. The office of jury commissioner shall provide a notice of qualifications for juror service to each juror summoned under the provisions of this chapter. A summary of section four of this chapter shall be included in the said notice. This notice shall contain any furthe…

Section 21. Enclosed with a juror summons shall be a juror confirmation form; provided, however, that no juror confirmation form shall be enclosed with a postcard summons. When completed by the juror, this form shall certify whether or not the juror is qualified to serve as a tri…

Section 22. The office of jury commissioner shall provide a confidential juror questionnaire to each prospective juror. The information elicited by the questionnaire shall be such information as is ordinarily raised in voir dire examinations of jurors, including the juror's name,…

Section 23. Unless the court orders otherwise, the clerk of court or an assistant clerk shall provide copies of the appropriate completed questionnaires to the trial judge and counsel for use during voir dire. Except for disclosures made during voir dire or unless the court order…

Section 24. (a) Each grand and trial juror shall respond to the postcard summons within 10 days of receipt. The office of jury commissioner shall provide a means for the juror to respond. If the juror is unable to complete and sign the response, the juror may authorize another pe…

Section 25. Each grand and trial juror from whom the office of jury commissioner has not received a response to the juror summons by the eighth week preceding the term of service for which the juror was summoned shall be summoned a final time. The final summons shall have the sam…

Section 26. (a) Not later than the sixth week preceding any term of grand or trial juror service, the office of jury commissioner may summon additional grand or trial jurors, in the manner provided in sections 19 and 24, if it appears from the responses to the juror summonses tha…

Section 27. The office of jury commissioner may summon additional grand and trial jurors to appear for juror service forthwith or at a time certain, with or without the right of postponement of juror service, with or without the opportunity to change the selection of the courthou…

Section 27A. After a summons has been received by a juror, no person shall, except as otherwise provided by law, question any juror so summoned for the purpose of obtaining information as to the juror's background in connection with the juror's jury duty.

Section 28. The office of jury commissioner may cancel grand or trial juror service whenever it appears that the number of jurors scheduled to appear is in excess of the number reasonably required to conduct the business of the court without delay. The office of jury commissioner…

Section 29. The office of jury commissioner may modify the date, location, or other condition of grand or trial juror service in order to meet the urgent needs of the court. The office of jury commissioner shall employ whatever means of notice, including telephone notice, that is…

Section 3. Juror service in the participating counties shall be a duty which every person who qualifies under this chapter shall perform when selected. All persons selected for juror service on grand and trial juries shall be selected at random from the population of the judicial…

Section 30. The office of jury commissioner or the court may impose a standby status condition on any trial or grand juror before or during his term of service. A juror on whom such condition has been imposed shall be referred to as a standby juror. The standby juror shall be pre…

Section 30A. If, by challenge or otherwise, a sufficient number of jurors duly drawn and summoned cannot be obtained for the trial of a case, the court shall cause jurors to be returned from the bystanders or from the county at large, to complete the panel, if there are on the ju…

Section 31. On the first day of his term of grand or trial juror service, each juror shall bring to court and present to the officer in charge of jurors his summons, his confidential juror questionnaire, duly completed and signed, and any subsequent notices of postponement or loc…

Section 32. Any juror or other person who wilfully misrepresents a material fact in the confidential questionnaire for the purpose of either avoiding or securing service as a grand or trial juror shall be guilty of a crime, and, upon conviction, may be punished by a fine of not m…

Section 33. The court, the office of jury commissioner, and the clerk of court or assistant clerk shall have authority to inquire into the criminal history records of grand and trial jurors for the limited purpose of corroborating and determining their qualifications for juror se…

Section 34. A trial juror shall have the right to one postponement of his term of juror service for not more than one year. The trial juror shall exercise this right by responding to the juror summons and indicating an election to postpone. The month, day and year to which such s…

Section 35. Grand and trial jurors shall be summoned at random from the entire judicial district to perform juror service at any particular location within the judicial district, unless the supreme judicial court, by rule of court, orders otherwise. The office of jury commissione…

Section 36. Not later than two weeks after the receipt of a response to a juror summons containing an election to postpone or a request to transfer juror service to a different location, the office of jury commissioner shall provide notice to the juror. This notice shall state th…

Section 37. The legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the commonwealth and of the United States shall not be impeded by the provisions of this chapter from freely exercising their independent powers and duties. Any of the following persons who has been summoned as a…

Section 38. A grand or trial juror may be permitted by the court to be available for juror service or continued juror service upon telephone notice. A juror who agrees to be available on telephone notice shall provide to the court a telephone number and a named individual by whic…

Section 39. The court or the office of jury commissioner shall have authority to defer or advance any term of grand or trial juror service upon a finding of hardship, inconvenience, or public necessity provided the juror recognizes his firm obligation to perform juror service on …

Section 4. Any citizen of the United States who is a resident of the judicial district or who lives within the judicial district more than fifty per cent of the time, whether or not he is registered to vote in any state or federal election, shall be qualified to serve as a grand …

Section 40. In the event a trial is expected by the court to last more than three trial days, the trial judge shall announce this fact to jurors before the jury is impanelled. The trial judge may excuse a juror from performing his juror service on such an extended trial upon a fi…

Section 41. The length of the term of service for trial jurors shall be one day unless a juror is assigned to or impanelled on an incompleted trial when the term ends or unless the court orders otherwise. Nothing in this section shall prevent a trial juror from serving or partici…

Section 42. The court shall take whatever actions are appropriate to enforce the provisions of this chapter. Upon a finding by the court that a juror will not appear to perform or complete juror service or in response to the court's order, the court may issue a warrant for the ar…

Section 43. The office of jury commissioner may send a delinquency notice by certified or first-class mail or by delivery by a sheriff or constable to any grand or trial juror who has failed to appear for juror service based upon the records in the office of jury commissioner; pr…

Section 44. The office of jury commissioner may prepare an application for the issuance of a criminal complaint against any grand or trial juror who has not been removed from delinquency status by the office of jury commissioner within thirty days after the date of a delinquency …

Section 45. The office of jury commissioner shall perform studies, foster research, and implement new procedures which are contemplated to accomplish the following: improvement of all aspects of the administration of jurors; reduction of the costs of selection, management, and co…

Section 46. The committee or the court may delegate to the jury commissioner of the office of jury commissioner such authority as is appropriate for the efficient administration of this chapter in accordance with guidelines approved by the committee or the court.

Section 47. The compensation and reimbursement policy of this chapter shall be to prevent financial hardship being imposed upon any juror because of performance of juror service insofar as possible. Where financial hardship exists, the court shall attempt to place the juror into …

Section 48. Each regularly employed trial or grand juror shall be paid regular wages by his employer for the first three days, or part thereof, of juror service. Regular employment shall include part-time, temporary, and casual employment as long as the employment hours of a juro…

Section 49. The court shall have the authority to excuse an employer from the duty to compensate a juror-employee or to excuse a self-employed juror from the duty to compensate himself for the first three days, or part thereof, of trial or grand juror service upon a finding that …

Section 5. There shall be an office of jury commissioner for the commonwealth, hereinafter called the office. The office shall have authority to implement the provisions of this chapter in the participating counties. It shall be a department within the judicial branch and under t…

Section 50. Each unemployed trial or grand juror upon application shall be reimbursed by the commonwealth for reasonable travel, child-care, and other necessary out-of-pocket expenses, except food, incurred during the first three days, or part thereof, of juror service. The offic…

Section 51. Each trial juror who serves more than three days shall be paid by the commonwealth for the fourth day of service and each day thereafter at the rate of fifty dollars per day of service. A trial juror receiving payment under this section shall not be entitled to additi…

Section 52. Upon the commencement of grand juror service, each grand juror shall complete and sign a financial questionnaire under the penalties of perjury. The completed questionnaire shall contain the financial data necessary for the determination of a daily compensation rate f…