Improving conditions for thousands of Tennesseans who receive notices every year to render verdicts in civil and criminal trials and encouraging participation on juries are among the missions of a new committee created by the Tennessee Judicial Council.
The panel will review state laws dealing with jury service and recommend any changes that may be needed. Its creation was prompted by Rep. Rob Briley’s introduction of a bill this year to revise various provisions of state law with regard to jury service.
The committee’s first meeting is at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the conference room of the Administrative Office of the Courts. Members are Chairman Jeff Henry, Deborah R. Alexander-Davis, District Attorney General Dan Alsobrooks, Representative Briley, Sen. Dewayne Bunch, Judge Lee V. Coffee and Tom Hatcher.
“Jurors are the linchpins of our system,” said Justice Cornelia Clark, who served on the American Bar Association’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the American Jury, “They perform a difficult public service and deserve to be treated with respect. We need to ensure that their service is as convenient and stress-free as possible.”
Clark said a goal of the new Judicial Council committee is to promote appreciation of the jury system and improve the response rate to summonses.
While most potential jurors show up when they are called for service, some ignore their summonses and others try to get excused once they arrive at the courthouse. The excuses range from the serious to the absurd.
“I had a juror tell me he could not be sequestered because he had no one to feed his parrot while he was gone,” Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft of Memphis said. “I asked if he could bring his parrot with him, and he responded that his parrot was stressed out by crowds.”
On the flip side, most who are called for jury service are willing to serve, including Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder, who recently completed jury service. She was not seated on a jury, but had hoped she would have the “privilege” of serving.
“Unfortunately, I was not among those who were seated on juries,” she said. “As a former attorney, trial court judge and a member of the Supreme Court, I know the value of the jury system and how remarkably well it works. I wanted to be part of that process.”
Former Chief Justice E. Riley Anderson, now retired, trekked to the courthouse 21 times hoping to be a juror during 14 months as part of a jury pool. At the end of his service, the chief justice returned $294 he received from the county for coming to court, saying he – like Holder – considered it a privilege.
While the new committee will be looking at state laws concerning jury service, the Supreme Court already conducted a study and adopted rule changes to improve jury service. The changes, implemented in 2003, included allowing jurors to take notes and to submit questions for witnesses. They resulted from recommendations by the Tennessee Bar Association Jury Reform Commission.