Juror questionnaires are “court records” in the parlance of the Access Rules under Section 3.10 (a). Rule 9 of the Montana Uniform District Court Rules require every potential juror to fill out a questionnaire. I include the questionnaire below. It requests a lot of pretty personal information: where they work, education level, information about their spouse, whether they have sued or been sued, whether they have been injured or have a disability, whether they have an attorney and so forth. Rule 9 states that questionnaires are available to counsel before trial. Rule 9 does NOT forbid the public from examining these documents. Although Section 4.50 of the Access Rules prohibits internet publication of court records “not to be accessible to the public”, it would not appear to offer any protection to the thousands of Montanans annually who are part of our pools of potential jurors.
Juror questionnaires are among the multitude of court records to be published on the internet under the Access Rules simply because the Access Rules mandate internet publication of ALL court records to which the public has access.Under the electronic framework the Access Rules contemplate, there is no distinction between a “public” document and a “published” document. So as we move to a digitized court record environment, all kinds of information about Montanans will be available on Google and other commercial search engines.
Internet publication of juror questionnaires is both unnecessary and unwise. We ought to be encouraging Montanans to serve on juries. Jury service is a critical part of our Montana justice system, but represents a significant burden on those called to serve: we ask them to miss work, leave their small children in daycare and so forth. Then we ask them to fill out questionnaires and later submit to voir dire sitting in a crowd of strangers.
Jury service is compulsory, but in our existing environment many look for reasons not to serve. These Access Rules will make that worse.
Here is the Juror Questionnaire form each juror in the State of Montana is mandated to fill out.
FORM “B”
MONTANA UNIFORM DISTRICT COURT RULES
PLEASE FILL OUT AND RETURN THE FOLLOWING WITHIN SEVEN (7) DAYS TO THE CLERK OF
THE DISTRICT COURT, BOX _______, MONTANA
QUESTIONNAIRE AS TO QUALIFICATION FOR JURY SERVICE
(PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE)
1. Name______________________________
2. Address _________ City __________ Zip Code ______
3. If you live outside of the city limits, please state the round trip mileage from your home to the city limits _____
4. Telephone: Home _____ Office _____
5. How long have you resided there? _____ Years in State? _____
6. Married ____ Single ____ Age ____ Sex ____
7. Do you have children? ____ Ages ____ Sex ____
8. What education have you had?
9. Are you employed at present? _____ Occupation
10. Employer’s name ________ Address
11. a. If you are married, name of spouse.
b. If married, occupation of spouse.
c. If retired, or not working, give last occupation.
d. If married, give spouse’s employer.
e. Do you own or are you buying your own home?
12. Have you ever served as a juror? _____ If so, in what court?
13. Have you or any member of your immediate family ever been injured in an
accident? _____ If so, what type? _____________
14. Are you, or any member of your immediate family involved in law
enforcement in any official capacity? _____ If so, briefly explain. ____
15. Have you or any member of your immediate family ever been a plaintiff or
defendant in a lawsuit? _____ What type of suit? _____
16. Are you or your spouse related to any attorney? _____ If so, his or her
name and address. ________________
17. Are you or your spouse presently being represented by an attorney? _____
If so, his or her name and address __________________
18. Do you have any disability which you feel would make it difficult to serve
on a jury? _____ If so, briefly explain____________________
19. In order to serve as a trial juror, you must be a registered elector whose
name appears on the most recent list of all registered electors as
prepared by the county registrar, and not convicted of malfeasance in
office or any felony or other high crime.
20. Do you feel you should be excused from serving as a juror? _____ If you
answer “yes”, complete the enclosed affidavit and have your signature
notarized and return within seven (7) days to the Clerk of the District
Court.
I certify that the foregoing statements are true to the best
of my knowledge and belief.
DATE ______ SIGNATURE ____________
