Colorado § 13-71-119 - Deferments and excuses - limitations.

§ 13-71-119. Deferments and excuses - limitations.

(1) It shall be the policy of this article that every trial juror shall be prepared to serve three trial days except as otherwise provided in this section or in section 13-71-104, 13-71-105, or 13-71-119.5.

(2) The court or the jury commissioner may defer or advance the term of service of the trial or grand juror upon a finding as provided in section 13-71-104, 13-71-105, or 13-71-119.5. The court may excuse a juror from grand juror service upon a finding of hardship or inconvenience, taking into consideration the length of grand juror service. The court may excuse a juror from trial juror service upon a finding of extreme hardship. The court may dismiss a trial or grand juror at any time in the best interest of justice.

(3) The court, after a hearing, may excuse and discharge an impaneled juror prior to jury deliberation upon a finding of extreme hardship, and such discharge shall not be grounds for objection or a mistrial as long as the statutorily or constitutionally required number of jurors remain able to proceed with the trial and deliberation. The court, after a hearing, may excuse and discharge a juror participating in jury deliberation only upon a finding of an emergency or for any other compelling reason. If the statutorily or constitutionally required number of jurors does not remain to hear evidence or to participate in jury deliberation after the discharge of a juror, the trial may continue with the lesser number of jurors only upon agreement of all parties on the record. The court may discharge an impaneled juror who has not appeared for juror service upon a finding that there is a strong likelihood that an unreasonable delay in the trial would occur if the court were to await the appearance of the juror. The court may exercise any authority granted in this section at any time before or during a juror's term of service.

Source: L. 89: Entire article R&RE, p. 769, § 1, effective January 1, 1990. L. 2004: Entire section amended, p. 278, § 6, effective August 4.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 13-71-111 as it existed prior to 1989.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since § 13-71-119 is similar to § 13-71-112 as it existed prior to the 1989 repeal and reenactment of this article, relevant cases construing that provision have been included in the annotations to this section.

Jurors excused only for statutory reasons. Jury service being an obligation of citizenship, the court should not excuse a person otherwise qualified for jury service for any reason short of the statutory criteria. People ex rel. Faulk v. District Court, 667 P.2d 1384 (Colo. 1983).

"Undue hardship" may include undue financial burden. What constitutes "undue hardship" sufficient to excuse a juror lies within the discretion of the trial court, and includes one for whom jury service would impose an undue financial burden. People v. Reese, 670 P.2d 11 (Colo. App. 1983).