Case 1:15-mc-00004 Document 42 Filed 10/27/15 Page 1 of 1
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO
IN THE MATTER OF: ADOPTION OF MISC No. 15-MC-04-42
COURT’S MODIFIED JURY PLAN
ORDER ADOPTING MODIFIED JURY PLAN
This Order Adopting the Modified Jury Plan replaces the Court’s Miscellaneous Order
No. 08-MC-04-40, filed December 2, 2008, which is hereby rescinded. With the concurrence of
the active Article III Judges in the District, this Order is entered for the Court.
IT IS ORDERED that the attached Jury Selection Plan (“the Plan”) is adopted by the
United States District Court for the District of New Mexico in accordance with the Jury
Selection and Service Act of 1968, as amended, 28 U.S.C. § 1861, et seq. (the “Act”).
DATED at Albuquerque, this 27th day of October, 2015.
FOR THE COURT:
______________________________________
M. CHRISTINA ARMIJO
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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JURY SELECTION PLAN
The following Jury Selection Plan (the “Plan”) is adopted by the United States District Court
for the District of New Mexico in accordance with the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968, as
amended, 28 U.S.C. § 1861, et seq. (the “Act”).
1. Declaration of Policy
It is the policy of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico (the
“Court”) that all litigants in the Court entitled to trial by jury will have the right to
grand juries and petit juries selected at random from a fair cross section of the
community in each jury division and that all qualified registered voters will have the
opportunity to be considered for service on grand juries and petit juries and will have
an obligation to serve as jurors when summoned for that purpose. No qualified
person will be excluded from the opportunity to serve as a grand juror or as a petit
juror because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or economic status.
2. Jury Divisions
The Court finds that establishing within the District jury divisions, composed of
counties from which jurors will be drawn for each place of holding court, will result
in impartial trials, will avoid unnecessary expense, and will reduce burdens on
persons reporting for jury service. The Court, therefore, establishes petit jury and
grand jury divisions.
a. Petit Jury Divisions.
There will be two petit jury divisions:
(1) The Northern Division which includes Bernalillo, Cibola, Colfax,
Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora,
Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa
Fe, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, and Valencia Counties; and
(2) The Southern Division which includes Catron, Chaves, Dona Aña,
Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, and Sierra
Counties.
b. Grand Jury Divisions.
There will be two grand jury divisions:
(1) The Northern Division which includes the same counties that are
included in the Northern petit jury division; and
(2) The Southern Division which includes the same counties that are
included in the Southern petit jury division.
3. Management and Supervision of Jury Selection Process and the Plan
The Clerk of the Court, any authorized deputy clerk, or any other person authorized
by the Court to assist the Clerk, will manage the jury selection process and the Plan
under the supervision of the Chief Judge of the Court or other active district judge
designated by the Chief Judge. In the event the Chief Judge, or another judge
designated by the Chief Judge, is unable to perform duties required by the Plan, those
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duties will be performed by the judge specified in 28 U.S.C. § 136(e).
4. Persons Eligible for Jury Service
Persons who are named in voter registration lists maintained by each county in the
State of New Mexico and who are qualified under the terms of the Plan will be
eligible to be selected for jury service under a computerized random selection
process.
5. Computerized Random Selection Process
In each jury division, persons eligible for jury service will be selected randomly by a
computer program to form, successively, the Master Jury Wheel and the Qualified
Jury List.
a. Master Jury Wheel
(1) Formation and Duration. A two-year Master Jury Wheel will be
emptied and refilled for each division by March of every
odd-numbered year, and persons selected for inclusion in a Master
Jury Wheel will be subject to being chosen for a Qualified Jury List
and for jury service during the existence of the Master Jury Wheel,
i.e., until it is replaced by a succeeding Master Jury Wheel.
(2) Random Selection Procedure. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1861, all
litigants "have the right to grand and petit jurors selected at random
from a fair cross section of the community." A master jury wheel is
created by selecting names at random from the voter registration lists.
Then, names are randomly drawn periodically from the master jury
wheel to receive juror qualification questionnaires and summonses to
report for grand or petit jury service. Individuals’ answers to these
questionnaires determine whether they are legally qualified and
available to serve. If so, those individuals are expected to report
pursuant to the court’s instructions and their names are added to the
Qualified Jury List. If not, those individuals are notified not to report
or are postponed to another time. All of the selections are carried out
through a properly programmed electronic data processing system for
pure randomized selection. The pure randomized process ensures that
the mathematical odds of any single name being picked are
substantially equal.
(3) Proportionality. The number of names selected from the voter
registration list of each county within a jury division will be such to
ensure that each county in the jury division is substantially
proportionately represented in the Master Jury Wheel that is being
formed.
(4) Numbers of Names Selected and Supplementation. The names of
at least one thousand persons will be randomly selected to be placed
initially in a Master Jury Wheel for the Northern Division, and the
names of at least one thousand persons will be randomly selected to
be placed initially in a Master Jury Wheel for the Southern Division.
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The Chief Judge, or other judge designated by the Chief Judge, may
order that the names of additional persons be randomly selected and
placed in the Master Jury Wheel for a division if that becomes
necessary to assure an adequate number of names in a Master Jury
Wheel.
b. Qualified Jury List.
(1) Formation and Duration. A Qualified Jury List for a division will
be formed by including in it the names of all persons who the Clerk
has not disqualified, exempted or excused, and the Qualified Jury List
will continue in existence until it is replaced by a Qualified Jury List
that will be drawn from a succeeding Master Jury Wheel. A Special
Qualified Jury List may be created at the direction of the Court, for
any division, portion of a division, or a combination of the divisions
for the purposes of jury selection in a specific case or cases. The
creation of such list will be accomplished by a purely randomized
process in accordance with Section 5.a.(2) of this Plan.
(2) Number of Names Drawn. Names in a Master Jury Wheel of a jury
division will be randomly drawn as needed to form a Qualified Jury
List for that jury division.
(3) List of Names Drawn. In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1864(a), the
Clerk will prepare an alphabetical list of the names of the persons
drawn from the Master Jury Wheel to form a Qualified Jury List.
Except by written order of the Chief Judge, or other active judge
designated by the Chief Judge, or as required by statute, the list of
names drawn will not be disclosed to anyone other than the judges of
the Court, the Clerk, or any other person authorized by the Court to
assist the Clerk in management of the jury selection process.
(4) Juror Qualification Forms. In accordance with 28 U.S.C.§ 1864(a),
the Clerk will mail to each person whose name is drawn from the
Master Jury Wheel, for the purpose of forming a Qualified Jury List, a
juror qualification form prescribed by the Administrative Office of
the United States Courts.
(5) Summons for Additional Information. A person who fails to reply
timely to a juror qualification form or who submits a reply requiring
further investigation may, if necessary, be summoned for a personal
interview by the Clerk in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1864(a).
(6) Determination of Persons to be Included in a Qualified Jury List.
The Clerk is authorized and directed under supervision of the Court to
determine which persons should be included in a Qualified Jury List.
A person whose name is in the Master Jury Wheel is presumed to be
qualified to be in the Qualified Jury List, but may be omitted from the
Qualified Jury List if the Clerk determines that the person does not
satisfy the qualification requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1865(b), or is
statutorily exempted from service under 28 U.S.C. § 1863(b)(6), or is
excused by the Clerk for one of the special reasons set forth in this
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Plan. Notice of persons who identify themselves as non-citizens
through the juror qualification process will be provided to appropriate
election officials for verifying voter registration eligibility.
(7) Excuses for Special Reasons.
(a) In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1863(b)(5)(A), the Court
finds that jury service by a member of the following groups of
persons would entail undue hardship or extreme
inconvenience and an excuse from jury service would not be
inconsistent with 28 U.S.C. § 1861 or 28 U.S.C. § 1862:
i Persons over 70 years of age;
ii Persons who have served as a grand juror or a petit
juror in any federal court within the last two years;
iii Other persons who show “undue hardship or extreme
inconvenience as defined in 28 U.S.C. § 1869(j).
The Clerk must excuse from jury service any member of these
groups of persons who requests to be excused.
(b) In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1863(b)(5)(B), the Clerk must
excuse from jury service persons who are “volunteer safety
personnel” and who request to be excused from jury service.
(8) Temporary Excuses.
In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1866(c), the Clerk under supervision
of the Court may temporarily excuse a person summoned for jury
service because of undue hardship or extreme inconvenience.
(9) Source of Jurors for Petit Jury Panels and Grand Jury Panels.
The Qualified Jury List will be the source of persons who will be
drawn randomly to report for assignment on petit jury panels and on
grand jury panels.
6. Summoning of Jury Panels--One-Step Procedure
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1878, jurors are summoned and qualified in a single
procedure, in lieu of the two separate procedures otherwise provided for by the Jury
Selection and Service Act.
7. Disclosure of Names of Panel Members
a. Petit Jurors
(1) The Clerk may disclose the names drawn from the Qualified Jury List
to form a Petit Jury Panel to the parties in a case upon request of a
party; however, a judge may order that the names be kept confidential
in any case in which the interests of justice require confidentiality.
(2) Names of prospective and sitting petit jurors shall not be disclosed to
the public or media outside open court, except upon order of the
Court. A request for disclosure of petit juror names to the media or
public must be made to the presiding judge.
b. Grand Jurors
The names of grand jurors drawn from the Qualified Jury List must not be
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disclosed to the public or maintained in a public record, unless the judge in
charge of the grand jury orders disclosure for a demonstrated need based on a
showing of exceptional circumstances.
8. Computer Services for Random Selections
The Court authorizes and directs the Clerk to contract with a provider of computer
services to operate a computer program to carry out this Plan. The Clerk will give
the computer service provider written instructions for a computer program that will
carry out the random selection features of the Plan. The Clerk must require the
computer service provider to execute, under penalty of perjury, a declaration that the
computer service provider has complied with the Clerk’s written instructions and
that the computerized random selection procedures set forth in the Plan have been
followed and carried out by the computer service provider in making computerized
random selections.
9. Records
The Clerk must keep in the permanent records of the Court a copy of the written
instructions given to the computer service provider and the computer service
provider’s sworn declaration of compliance with the instructions and the procedures
of the Plan.
10. Effective Date
The effective date of November 1, 2015 represents the date jurors will be drawn from
the Master Wheel to form new Qualified Jury Lists under this Plan.
APPROVAL BY JUDICIAL COUNCIL
The amended Plan for Selection of Jurors, which revises the Plan heretofore approved for
the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, was approved by the Judicial
Council of the Tenth Circuit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1863(a) on October 27, 2015.
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Notices
1:15-mc-00004 Administrative Orders
U.S. District Court
District of New Mexico - Version 6.1
Notice of Electronic Filing
The following transaction was entered on 10/28/2015 at 9:15 AM MDT and filed on 10/27/2015
Case Name: Administrative Orders
Case Number: 1:15-mc-00004
Filer:
Document Number: 42
Docket Text:
ORDER: Adopting Modified Jury Plan (Attachments: # (1) Modified Jury Plan, # (2) Minutes of
the Judicial Council of the Tenth Circuit)(ng)
1:15-mc-00004 Notice has been electronically mailed to:
1:15-mc-00004 Notice has been delivered by fax to:
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Document description:Main Document
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Document description: Modified Jury Plan
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Document description: Minutes of the Judicial Council
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