IN AND FOR THE EIGHTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA
 ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER 1.350 (A)
 

JURY MANAGEMENT



    Pursuant to Florida Supreme Court Administrative Order of March 27, 1995, with regard to Jury Management, jurors shall be summoned in the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida as follows.

 It is ORDERED

     1. Trials will be scheduled pursuant to General Assignment Order and as reflected in the Master Calendar.  Jurors shall be summoned to appear at the times indicated on the Master Calendar for all Circuit and County Court cases unless otherwise directed by the Chief Judge or the Administrative Judge of the Criminal Division of Alachua County for Alachua County cases.

     2. Unless otherwise approved by the Chief Judge for special circumstances, jurors shall be chosen on the day they are summoned to appear for all cases to be tried during that week.  Judges, attorneys, and parties must adjust their schedules to accommodate this schedule to minimize waste of time and cost.

     3. In compliance with the March 27, 1995, Florida Supreme Court Jury Management Administrative Order, jury managers of the Eighth Judicial Circuit will make every reasonable effort to average no more than 18.3 jurors per trial.  The jury manager of the Eighth Judicial Circuit will advise each county's Clerk of Court how many jurors to summons for each trial term consistent with the number of cases to be tried.  The Clerks of Court of each county within the Eighth Judicial Circuit  shall report the activity of all jury cases to the Florida Supreme Court in the manner established by the Office of the State Court Administrator as approved by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

     4. It is recognized that scheduled trials will routinely be removed from the court calendar at any time due to varying factors including continuances, settlement, and changes of plea.  In order to efficiently manage the number of jurors summoned for trial, a juror call-off system will be installed in each county of the Eighth Judicial Circuit to reduce the inconvenience to summoned jurors who will not be needed.  The juror call-off system will be administered by the Clerks of Court based on information provided by the Court Administrator's Office.

     5. Trial Priority.  In order to adhere to the Supreme Court Order pertaining to the management of jurors, there may be instances when there is a shortage of available jurors for all of the scheduled trials.  Should this occur, trials will be provided with available jurors based upon the following priorities:

a.   Any trial that cannot be rescheduled due to a Speedy Trial Rule deadline;
b.   Circuit criminal trials;
c.   County criminal trials with an incarcerated defendant;
d.   Circuit Civil trials;
e.   County Criminal trials with no incarcerated defendants; and
f.    County Civil trials.
     6. Procedure for Jurors who fail to appear.  Jurors who fail to report on their assigned date, and who have not been excused by a judge will be subject to sanction by the court.  It shall be the responsibility of the Clerk of Court to report jurors who failed to appear without excuse to the court.    7. Administrative Order 1.350 entitled "Jury Venire and Jury Selection" dated November 12, 1980, is hereby rescinded.

     ORDERED on September 16, 1999.
 

       /s/
      ROBERT P. CATES, CHIEF JUDGE