In Missouri, people with disputes may bring the dispute to trial to be resolved by a jury called civil cases.  The State may charge someone with a crime and if the person pleas not guilty the criminal case is set for trial.

A jury for civil and criminal cases is comprised of residents of the county where the trial takes place. Currently, a master jury list is drawn from public records where names are selected at random.  A new master list is drawn every year.

Each week, names are drawn and each selected person is mailed a jury summons. Since it is not known how many of the cases will be settled before trial, it is difficult to know exactly how many people to bring in for jury service. Here in St. Louis County, we have 17 divisions in jury trial 48 weeks of each year. We bring in an average number that we anticipate will be needed.

Each Monday, we bring in jurors who serve Monday and Tuesday. If a juror is selected for a particular case, he or she must serve for the duration of the case. Those not selected are dismissed at the end of the day on Tuesday.

A new group of jurors is summoned for Wednesday and Thursday. Currently, we have a call-in system for the jurors scheduled to report on a Wednesday so that if trials scheduled are settled, we can reduce the number of jurors who must report. Those who report but are not selected are dismissed on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning depending on the trials scheduled.

If Monday is a holiday, jurors begin their service on Tuesday and may be required to stay until it is determined that no more jury trials will begin either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Of course, in all cases, if you are selected to serve as a juror for a trial, your service will be for the duration of the case. Jury trials in St. Louis County generally average 2 1/2 days but may be shorter or longer depending on the case.