Free Order - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The parties should note that this is a change from t he 3:00 p .m. time stated in the Court's Order of October 25, 2005. See Docs. ##868, 885. Case 2:03-cr-01167-DGC Document 889 Filed 11/09/2005 Page 1 of 4
1

IN THE UNITED S TATES DIS TRICT COURT FOR THE DIS TRICT OF ARIZONA

United States of America, Plaintiff, vs. Robert J. Johnston, et al., Defendants.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

CR-03-1167-PHX-DGC ORDER

The Court recently met with personnel from the jury administration office to discuss jury s elect ion in this case. This order will set forth a proposed jury selection process. The parties should be prepared to address this proposal and related issues at the twelfth case management conference on December 21, 2005, at 1:00 p.m.1 This is the proposal: 1. T he Clerk will mail summonses and the Court's standard juror qualification

questionnaires to approximately 8000 prospective jurors during the first week of January 2006. 2. Pursuant to the Court 's J ury Selection Plan, the Jury Administrator will

review comp leted questionnaires as they are received and, upon a prospective juror's

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

request, excus e from jury service (1) persons over 70 years of age, (2) persons who have served as a grand or trial juror w ithin the last two years, and (3) volunteer safety personnel. See General Order 04-20, at 5 (Dec. 1, 2004). Counsel will not be permitted to object to these standard hardship excuse requests. See id. 3. Because the trial in this case will last s everal months, the Court will authorize

the Jury Administrator tentatively to excuse jurors whose qualification questionnaires identify one or more of the following grounds for hardship: a. employers; b. Full-time self-employed individuals whose regular work includes the Full-t ime wage earners who will not be compensated by their

hours of 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; c. Sole caretakers of school age children or of other individuals,

including elderly persons, who require extensive supervision; d. Individuals who suffer from documented medical difficulties and for

whom jury service would impose an undue risk of physical or psychological harm; e. Special education teachers or other teachers for whom a comparable

substitute is not reasonably available; f. g. h. transportation; or i. Individuals who live a distance of 60 miles or more, one-way, from A parent who home-schools his or her children; Full-time students; Individuals who have no access to transportation, including public

Phoenix, and who cannot stay over night in Phoenix because they have minor children at home. 4. During January 2006, at times to be coordinated among all counsel and

scheduled with the jury administrator, counsel may review and object t o the excusal of any individuals tentatively excus ed by the Jury Administrator on the basis of the foregoing nine crit eria. Counsel will review the questionnaires for tentatively excused jurors at the
-2-

Case 2:03-cr-01167-DGC

Document 889

Filed 11/09/2005

Page 2 of 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Court's jury office and may object to the excusal of a tentatively excused juror by placing the questionnaire for that juror in a designated pile. Counsel will not be permitted to view the front of the questionnaire, copy or write on the questionnaires, or take notes during their review of the questionnaires. All prospective jurors whose tentative excus al by the

Jury Administrator has not been object ed to by any party will be excused for hardship without further consideration by the Court. 5. A hearing will be held on February 8, 2006, starting at 9:00 a.m., for the

Court and counsel to address each t entatively excused juror whose excusal has been objected to by a party. The Court will decide, on t he bas is of this hearing, which

tentatively excused jurors will be excused for hardship without voir dire. 6. Counsel shall jointly file a proposed case-specific jury questionnaire by T he proposed questionnaire shall include (a) questions to which all

January 20, 2006. 2

the parties have stipulated, (b) non-s tipulated questions proposed by the Government, and (c) non-stipulated questions proposed by Defendants. The Court and counsel will settle

the final jury questionnaire at the hearing on February 8, 2006. 7. Following the February 8 hearing, prospective jurors who have not been

excused for hardship during the process described in p aragraphs 1-5 above will complete the case-specific jury questionnaire. The questionnaire will either be mailed to these jurors during the third week of February 2006 or, alternatively, the jurors will be required to complete the questionnaire in person at the Court's Phoenix and Yuma offices during February and M arch 2006.3 counsel on M arch 24, 2006. 8. Beginning on April 25, 2006, the Court and couns el will conduct a voir dire Copies of the completed questionnaires will be p rovided to

This Order supersedes the Court's O rder of October 25, 2005, which set a date of M arch 3, 2006, for submitting the questionnaire. See Doc. #868. Whether the questionnaire should be mailed or completed in person at a court office is an issue the parties should be prepared to address on February 8, 2006.
-33

2

Case 2:03-cr-01167-DGC

Document 889

Filed 11/09/2005

Page 3 of 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

examination, including challenges for cause, of 50 prospective jurors a day.

Jurors not

excused for hardship or successfully challenged for cause will be instructed to return to the Court for final jury selection on a day to be announced by dial-in telephone recording at the jury administration office. When voir dire produces a sufficient number of

prospective jurors to leave 18 jurors after the parties have exercised all peremptory challenges, voir dire will ceas e and t he Court will schedule a day for final jury selection. 9. hardship On the day of final jury s election, the Court and counsel will address any new excuse requests.4 The parties will then exercise peremptory challenges

simultaneously and secretly.

The G overnment will have nine and Defendants collectively F ollowing the exercise of peremptory challenges,

will have thirteen peremptory challenges .

the Court will empanel eighteen jurors, a number which includes six alternates. 10. by name. 11. To aid the Court in addressing these issues at the twelft h case management Throughout the foregoing process, jurors will be identified by number, not

conference, the Government shall file and Defendants collectively shall file one seven-page memorandum setting forth the parties' thoughts on the foregoing procedures or any additional procedures that will aid in jury selection. The parties shall also file a separate

updated joint cas e management report. The memoranda and report shall be filed on or before December 14, 2005. Following the twelfth case management conference, the Court will issue an order establishing final jury selection procedures for this case. DATED this 9th day of November, 2005.

This means the number of jurors asked to return on this day should be somewhat higher than 18 plus the total number of peremptory challenges.
-4-

4

Case 2:03-cr-01167-DGC

Document 889

Filed 11/09/2005

Page 4 of 4