Colorado § 13-71-115 - Juror questionnaires.

§ 13-71-115. Juror questionnaires.

(1) On or before the first day of the term of trial or grand juror service, each juror shall be given a juror questionnaire requesting the following information about the juror: Name, sex, date of birth, age, residence, and marital status; the number and ages of children; educational level and occupation; whether the juror is regularly employed, self-employed, or unemployed; spouse's occupation; previous juror service; present or past involvement as a party or witness in a civil or criminal proceeding; and such other information as the jury commissioner deems appropriate after consulting with the judges in the judicial district. The questionnaire shall contain a declaration by the juror that the information supplied is, to the best of the juror's knowledge, true and an acknowledgment that a willful misrepresentation of a material fact is a class 2 misdemeanor punishable as provided in section 18-1.3-501. Immediately below the declaration, the questionnaire shall contain a place for the signature of the juror. A notice that the completed questionnaire is not a public record shall appear prominently on its face.

(2) Unless the court orders otherwise, the jury commissioner shall provide copies of the appropriate completed questionnaires to the trial judge and counsel for use during jury selection. With the exception of the names of qualified jurors and disclosures made during jury selection, information on the questionnaires shall be held in confidence by the court, the parties, trial counsel, and their agents. Upon the completion of jury selection, the parties and their counsel shall return all copies of the completed questionnaires to the court for immediate destruction. The original completed questionnaires for all prospective jurors shall be sealed in an envelope and retained in the court's file but shall not constitute a public record.

(3) If a person's answers to a questionnaire indicate that the person is disqualified or disabled from performing jury service pursuant to section 13-71-104 (3), 13-71-105, or 13-71-119.5 or, in the opinion of the court, state grounds sufficient to be excused from jury service pursuant to section 13-71-119.5, the person's name shall not be included in the juror pool and the court shall notify the person that he or she is excused from jury service.

Source: L. 89: Entire article R&RE, p. 768, § 1, effective January 1, 1990. L. 93: (1) amended, p. 515, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2002: (1) amended, p. 1488, § 125, effective October 1. L. 2004: (3) added, p. 278, § 5, effective August 4. L. 2021: (1) amended, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, p. 3159, § 160, effective March 1, 2022.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 13-71-108 as it existed prior to 1989.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 2002 act amending subsection (1), see section 1 of chapter 318, Session Laws of Colorado 2002.

ANNOTATION

Although the general rule of this section requires certain information to be made available to defense counsel, the defendant was not prejudiced by the trial court's refusal to supply defense counsel with the addresses of the jurors. People v. Vigil, 718 P.2d 496 (Colo. 1986).

Erroneous destruction of juror questionnaires is not per se prejudice. The defendant must establish some sort of prejudice in conjunction with the destruction of the juror questionnaires to show prejudice to the appeal. People v. Blankenship, 30 P.3d 698 (Colo. App. 2000).

Trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining to include a requested race/ethnicity question on the jury questionnaire. This section does not require or otherwise address whether a prospective juror may be requested to indicate their racial or ethnic identity and there is no state appellate decision requiring a trial court to inquire about a prospective juror's race or ethnicity. People v. Toro-Ospina, 2023 COA 45, 535 P.3d 132.