Montana § 3-15-501 - Order Directing That Trial Jury Be Drawn And Summoned

§ 3-15-501. Order Directing That Trial Jury Be Drawn And Summoned

Order directing that trial jury be drawn and summoned. (1) If a civil or criminal case has been at issue and ready for trial for more than 6 months and the plaintiff or defendant has requested a jury trial or whenever the business of a district court requires the attendance of a trial jury for the trial of civil or criminal cases and a jury is not in attendance, the court shall order a trial jury to be drawn and summoned to attend before the court. The order must specify the number of jurors to be drawn. The time at which the jurors are required to attend is at the discretion of the court. (2) The court may direct that a criminal or civil proceeding in which a jury may be required or may have been demanded be continued and fixed for trial at a time when a jury will be in attendance. (3) The judge or judges of a district or the judge of a department may designate that jury service in the district or department is on a "one-day or one-trial" basis; that is, each individual juror is excused for the rest of the year after having attended for 1 day and not having been selected to serve at the trial of a particular cause or after having completed service at a trial. (4) If the number of unexcused jurors is not sufficient to meet current requirements at any time, jurors excused under subsection (3) may be required to serve. (5) The clerk of court shall send a summons to a person selected as a juror drawn pursuant to 3-15-503 . If not sent with the notice provided for in 3-15-405 , the summons must include the jury questionnaire as to the person's qualifications to serve as a juror and a form for an affidavit claiming an excuse from service provided for in 3-15-313 . The person shall respond as required in the summons as to their qualifications to serve as a juror. (6) If a person fails to respond to the summons, the clerk of court shall attempt to contact a nonresponding person by telephone or other electronic communication. (7) If a person fails to respond to the summons and the clerk of court has completed the actions required in subsection (6), the clerk of court shall certify the failure to the sheriff, who shall make reasonable efforts to require the person to appear on the date required by the summons. (8) For the purposes of subsection (7), "reasonable efforts" include any two of the following actions: (a) publishing the list of persons who failed to respond in or on any of the following: (i) a newspaper of general circulation; (ii) a web-based news site; or (iii) government-controlled or government-sponsored social media or web pages for the specific jurisdiction; (b) attempted contact by telephone; (c) attempted contact by other electronic communication; (d) posting a physical notice at a last-known address; (e) attempted personal service; or (f) attempted contact by United States postal service first-class mail. (9) Failure by the clerk of court or the sheriff to strictly adhere to the provisions of this section may not constitute grounds to invalidate a jury pool or a jury.