UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
____________
IN THE MATTER OF THE PLAN OF THE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR Administrative Order
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN No. 13-102
FOR THE RANDOM SELECTION OF GRAND
AND PETIT JURORS
__________________________________________/
On September 20, 2013, the Judges of the United States District Court for the Western
District of Michigan approved the attached Juror Selection Plan for submission to the Judicial
Council of the Sixth Circuit for approval. The Plan was approved by the Judicial Council and the
Certificate of Approval signed by Chief Judge Alice M. Batchelder on November 6, 2013.
Pursuant to the Jury Selection and Service Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861-78, and by 28 U.S.C. §
151, which provides for the selection, summoning, and administration of jury panels by the United
States District and Bankruptcy Courts, the attached plan is adopted until further order of this Court,
subject to such rules and regulations as may lawfully be promulgated from time to time by the
Judicial Conference of the United States.
This administrative order supercedes Administrative Order 06-098.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: November 19, 2013
Paul L. Maloney
Chief United States District Judge
UNITED STATES
DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT
OF MICHIGAN
JUROR SELECTION PLAN
Adopted: November 19, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Declaration of Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Discrimination Prohibited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Designation of Divisions and Applicability of Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
a. Southern Division at Grand Rapids.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
b. Southern Division at Kalamazoo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
c. Southern Division at Lansing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
d. Northern Division at Marquette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Management and Supervision of the Juror Selection Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Juror Selection Sources.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. Random Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8. Master Jury Wheels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
9. Drawing of Names from the Master Jury Wheel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
10. Juror Summons and Qualification Forms.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
11. Determination of Juror Qualifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
12. Qualifications for Jury Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
13. Exemption from Jury Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
14. Excuses on Individual Request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
15. Deferral of Jury Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
16. Qualified Jurors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
17. Petit Jury Panels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
18. Failure to Report for Jury Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
19. Reporting the Names of Non-citizens to State Election Officials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
20. Summary Trial Jurors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
21. Selection of Grand Jurors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
22. Maintenance of Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
23. General Provisions.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
JUROR SELECTION PLAN
1. DECLARATION OF POLICY
All litigants entitled to trial by jury shall have the right to grand and petit juries selected
at random from a fair cross-section of the community in the division where the court
convenes. All qualified citizens within the District shall have the opportunity to be
considered for service on the grand and petit juries of this Court, and shall have an
obligation to serve as jurors when summoned for that purpose.
This Court utilizes the one-step summoning and qualification procedure, as authorized
by 28 U.S.C. § 1878. Accordingly, jurors will be summoned and qualified in a single
procedure.
2. DEFINITIONS
The definitions contained in 28 U.S.C. § 1869, as amended, will apply in this Juror
Selection Plan (Plan) except:
a. “Division” means a set of counties deemed a unit for the purpose of defining the
geographic area of the master jury wheels; and
b. “Chief Judge” includes his or her designee.
3. DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED
No citizen shall be excluded from service as a grand, petit or summary trial juror in this
Court on account of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or economic status.
4. DESIGNATION OF DIVISIONS AND APPLICABILITY OF PLAN
The Western District of Michigan is divided into the following divisions for juror selection
purposes and this plan applies to each of the listed Divisions, unless otherwise
specifically indicated:
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a. Southern Division at Grand Rapids comprising the counties of:
Antrim Kent Oceana
Benzie Lake Osceola
Charlevoix Leelanau Ottawa
Clinton Manistee Wexford
Eaton Mason
Emmet Mecosta
Grand Traverse Missaukee
Ingham Montcalm
Ionia Muskegon
Kalkaska Newaygo
b. Southern Division at Kalamazoo comprising the counties of:
Allegan Branch Kalamazoo
Barry Calhoun St. Joseph
Berrien Cass Van Buren
c. Southern Division at Lansing* comprising the counties of:
Branch Eaton Ingham
Clinton Hillsdale
d. Northern Division at Marquette comprising the counties of:
Alger Gogebic Mackinac
Baraga Houghton Marquette
Chippewa Iron Menominee
Delta Keweenaw Ontonagon
Dickinson Luce Schoolcraft
5. MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISION OF THE JUROR SELECTION PROCESS
a. The Clerk will manage the jury selection process under the supervision of the
Chief Judge.
b. Orders of the Court relating to the general operation of the jury system and
public notices concerning the drawing of names for assignment to grand, petit
and summary jury panels will be available in the Clerk’s Office, on the Court’s
website, and distributed to the judicial officers of the court.
*
Pursuant to Adm inistrative Order 07-90 dated August 8, 2007 (copy attached). Tem porary
changes to the Lansing jury wheel were m ade pending a perm anent judge in residence.
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6. JUROR SELECTION SOURCES
a. Grand and petit jurors will be selected randomly from the merged lists, of the
following data sources, after elimination of known duplicates:
i. registered voters in the Qualified Voter File compiled by the Michigan
Secretary of State;
ii. persons over the age of 18 licensed by the Michigan Secretary of State to drive
motor vehicles; and
iii. persons over the age of 18 who have been issued a personal identification
card by the Michigan Secretary of State.
b. The Clerk will obtain data sources in the electronic form most compatible with the
computer hardware and software used by the Court for the random selection of
names.
7. RANDOM SELECTION
a. The Clerk may use electronic data processing systems for any tasks associated with
the administration of the jury system including, but not limited to:
i. the random selection of names from the data sources for master jury wheels;
ii. the random selection of names of qualified jurors for grand, petit, and
summary jury panels;
iii. the random assignment of prospective jurors to pools;
iv. the preparation of documents; and
v. statistical reports necessary for the efficient and effective administration of the
jury system.
b. For all purposes for which random selection is required by this plan, the Clerk will
use a purely randomized process through a properly programmed electronic data
processing system.
c. If a contractor is used for any tasks associated with the administration of the jury
system, the contractor will submit to the Court a certification that work has been
completed pursuant to the detailed instructions from the Clerk.
d. The selection of names from the source lists and the master jury wheels must
ensure that the mathematical odds of any single name being picked is substantially
equal.
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8. MASTER JURY WHEELS
a. The Clerk will maintain master jury wheels for each division.
b. The Clerk will ensure that each county within a division is proportionally represented
in the master jury wheel for that division in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1863. In
creating the master jury wheels, the number of names drawn from each county shall
be substantially in the same proportion to the total number drawn from all counties
within the division as the number of names on that county’s source lists bears to the
total number of names on the source lists for all counties within a division.
c. To increase the probability that the names and addresses on the data sources are
as current as possible, the Clerk will empty and refill the master jury wheels every
two (2) years, as soon as possible after the most recent federal general election held
in the fall of even-numbered years. Jury panels already drawn, or jurors selected
and sworn in for a particular case, shall continue to serve until this has been
accomplished.
d. The Chief Judge, upon recommendation of the Clerk will determine the total number
of names to be selected at random from the data sources and placed in the master
jury wheels.
e. The minimum number of names to be placed in the respective master jury wheels
is one thousand (1,000).
f. If it should appear at any time that the names in a given master jury wheel will be
exhausted before the prescribed time for refilling, the Chief Judge may order it
refilled in advance of that time from the most recent source lists available. Such a
refilling shall be in lieu of, and not in addition to, the next prescribed refilling.
9. DRAWING OF NAMES FROM THE MASTER JURY WHEEL
a. The Clerk will direct the random drawing of names of as many persons from the
master jury wheels as may be needed to qualify and summon a sufficient number
of jurors for a term of service.
b. The number of names drawn will be determined by the Clerk based upon anticipated
juror demands of the court, plus a margin of extra names sufficient to compensate
for the estimated number that may be unavailable or ineligible.
c. The Clerk will maintain records of the names drawn from the master jury wheels.
10. JUROR SUMMONS AND QUALIFICATION FORMS
The Clerk will mail to each person drawn, a juror summons and qualification questionnaire
form, accompanied by instructions to execute and return the questionnaire duly signed
and sworn within ten (10) days in accordance with 28 U.S.C.§ 1864 (a).
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11. DETERMINATION OF JUROR QUALIFICATIONS
The Chief Judge, or Clerk under the supervision of the Chief Judge, will determine
whether a person is (1) unqualified for, (2) exempt from, or (3) to be excused from, jury
service. These determinations will be based solely on information provided in the juror
qualification questionnaire and other competent evidence.
12. QUALIFICATIONS FOR JURY SERVICE
a. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1865 (b), a person will be deemed qualified to serve on grand
and petit juries unless he or she:
i. is not a citizen of the United States, is not 18 years old, and has not resided
for a period of one year within the judicial district;
ii. is unable to read, write, and understand the English language with a degree of
proficiency sufficient to satisfactorily complete the juror qualification form;
iii. is unable to speak the English language;
iv. is incapable, by reason of mental or physical infirmity, to render satisfactory
jury service; or
v. has a charge pending against him/her for the commission of, or has been
convicted in a state or federal court of record of, a crime punishable by
imprisonment for more than one year and his/her civil rights have not been
restored by pardon or amnesty.
13. EXEMPTION FROM JURY SERVICE
a. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1863 (b)(6), the following are exempt from jury service:
i. members in active service in the Armed Forces of the United States;
ii. members of fire or police departments; and
iii. public officers in the executive, legislative or judicial branches of the
government of the United States, or of any state, district, territory, possession,
or subdivision thereof, who are actively engaged in the performance of official
duties. “Public officer” shall mean a person who is either elected to public
office or who has been directly appointed by a person elected to public office.
14. EXCUSES ON INDIVIDUAL REQUEST
a. The Court finds that jury service by the following persons would entail undue
hardship or extreme inconvenience and to excuse them from jury service on
individual request is not inconsistent with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861 and 1862:
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i. persons over the age of 70;
ii. persons who have served on a grand or petit jury in a federal court within the
last two years; and
iii. persons who are members of a volunteer fire department, rescue squad or
ambulance crew for a public agency.
b. Additionally, the Chief Judge, or the Clerk under supervision of the Chief Judge, may
excuse persons summoned for jury service upon a showing of undue hardship,
extreme inconvenience, or other ground for excuse as set forth in 28 U.S.C. §§
1866(c) and 1869(j), for such period as the Court may deem necessary and proper.
15. DEFERRAL OF JURY SERVICE
a. If a person requests deferral of his or her jury service for a specific reason, such as
a pre-planned vacation, business commitment, health problem or similar episodic
event, the Clerk may reassign the juror to a different pool within the same jury
wheel. All requests for deferral must be in writing, which includes electronically
submitted requests.
b. The Clerk will record any deferral granted and will report on the status of any
individual juror or group of jurors upon request of the Court.
16. QUALIFIED JURORS
a. At all times, the Clerk will maintain an adequate number of qualified jurors not
exempt or excused under this Plan.
b. Qualified jurors will be randomly assigned to grand, petit and summary trial panels.
c. The Clerk will maintain records of persons summoned and assigned to grand, petit
and summary trial panels.
17. PETIT JURY PANELS
a. Petit jurors will serve for a period of four (4) weeks, or as needed dependent upon
the needs of each division.
b. Persons whose names are selected and then qualified from the master jury wheel
shall be called to appear as prospective jurors for trials in their respective divisions
unless otherwise directed by the Chief Judge or the judge assigned to try the case.
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1866(e), no person shall be required to serve or attend court
for prospective service as a petit juror for a total of more that thirty (30) days, except
when necessary to complete service in a particular case.
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c. If the current panel for an area contains more persons than reasonably needed for
the selection of a jury in a specific case, the Clerk shall select at random the number
of individuals to be called.
d. If two or more jury trials are to commence on the same day in the same city in this
district, a central jury pool may be used. The names of prospective jurors directed
to report to any specific courtroom shall be determined at random by the Clerk.
Persons excluded from service in a particular case upon peremptory challenge or
upon challenge by a party for good cause shown, shall be returned to the central jury
pool.
e. The Clerk shall prepare a separate list of the names of persons assigned to each
petit jury panel. These lists shall upon request, be disclosed to the parties three (3)
business days prior to the trial date, unless otherwise directed by the Chief Judge
or the judge assigned to try the case.
f. A request for disclosure of jury names to the media or the public may be made to
the judge assigned to try the case. The Clerk shall not release juror names to the
media or the public unless specifically authorized, in writing, by the assigned judge.
The Chief Judge or judge assigned to try the case may order such lists to be kept
confidential in any case where the interests of justice so require.
18. FAILURE TO REPORT FOR JURY SERVICE
A person who does not report for jury service on the date and time on his or her
summons, or as otherwise notified by the court, may be subject to prosecution in
accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1866(g).
19. REPORTING THE NAMES OF NON-CITIZENS TO STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS
The Clerk shall report to the Michigan Secretary of State the names of prospective jurors
that identify themselves as non-citizens at any time during the jury qualification or jury
selection process.
20. SUMMARY TRIAL JURORS
Jurors to be used for the purpose of summary trials will be drawn from a pool of jurors
summoned and unused at the end of their term.
21. SELECTION OF GRAND JURORS
a. The grand jury for the Southern Division shall be drawn from the Grand Rapids,
Kalamazoo and Lansing jury wheels. The grand jury for the Northern Division shall
be drawn from the Marquette jury wheel.
b. When the Court orders impanelment of a grand jury, the Clerk shall draw at random,
from the master jury wheels, the names of as many persons as may be required for
grand jury service.
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c. The Clerk shall select a proportionate share of names from each of the master jury
wheels for each division. That proportionate share shall be based on the total
number of persons in the source list for each divisional office compared to the total
number of persons on the source list for the entire district. The Clerk shall issue
summons and qualification forms for each person selected.
d. Each grand jury shall serve for a period not to exceed eighteen (18) months, unless
extended by an order of the Court, and such service shall not be affected by the
emptying and refilling of the master wheels from which it was drawn.
e. Upon request for excuse, and if inspection of the juror questionnaire of the person
selected reflects that the person should be excused from grand jury service but not
from petit jury service, that person shall be returned to the master wheel.
f. Information of grand jurors shall not be disclosed to anyone at any time, except as
may be directed by written Court order.
22. MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS
a. The Clerk shall preserve all records and papers compiled and maintained for the jury
process for four (4) years after the master wheel is emptied, or for such longer
period as may be ordered by the Court. Such records may then be destroyed,
providing the means used is such to ensure privacy of their contents.
b. Such records shall be available for public inspection for the purpose of determining
the validity of the selection of any jury, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1868 et seq.
c. The Clerk shall retain and provide public access to the following documents:
i. the Court’s “Juror Selection Plan”;
ii. a copy of the Court’s authorization and instruction order to the person or
computer service organization which carries out automated name selection
tasks for the Court and the affidavit by the representative of the facility
certifying compliance with the same; and
iii. orders of the Court for selection of grand and petit jury panels.
23. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Incorporated in this Plan by reference are the provisions of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861-1871, any
amendments to these sections as may be made from time to time, and all statutes
enacted after this Plan is approved pertaining to grand and petit jurors and trials by jury
in federal courts.
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