Jury selection: acknowledgment and agreement.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide details about when the new forms must be used or the extent of training needed for judges and court staff.

Jury Selection: New Acknowledgment Forms

This law revises the acknowledgment forms that people sign before and after being questioned by a judge during jury selection.

What This Bill Does

• Revises the form jurors sign before they are questioned by a judge in court.
• Updates the form jurors sign after they have been selected to serve on a trial jury.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who are called for jury duty
• Judges and court staff who manage jury selection

Terms To Know

voir dire

the process of questioning potential jurors to decide which ones will actually sit on the jury

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify when these new forms must be used.

Official Summary Text

AB 223, Pacheco.
Jury selection: acknowledgment and agreement.
The Trial Jury Selection and Management Act requires all persons be selected for jury service at random and from sources inclusive of a representative cross section of the population of the area served by the court. Existing law requires a trial judge to examine the prospective jurors in jury trials. Existing law gives the counsel for each party, after this initial examination, the right to examine any of the prospective jurors, as specified, in order to enable counsel to intelligently exercise both peremptory challenges and challenges for cause. Existing law requires, prior to the examination of prospective trial jurors in the panel assigned for voir dire, a specified perjury acknowledgment and agreement to be obtained from the prospective jurors. Existing law requires, after the selection of the trial jury is completed, another specified acknowledgment and agreement to be obtained from
the trial jurors.
This bill would revise the acknowledgment and agreements obtained from the jury panel prior to the examination of prospective trial jurors assigned for voir dire and after the completion of selection of trial jurors.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF