Oregon Statutes 10.050 – Excuse from jury duty
(1) A judge of the court or clerk of court shall excuse a person from acting as a juror upon a showing of undue hardship or extreme inconvenience to the person, the person’s family, the person’s employer or the public served by the person. In applying this subsection the judge or clerk of court shall carefully consider and weigh both the public need for juries which are representative of the full community and the individual circumstances offered as a justification for excuse from jury service. A person may request and be granted excuse from jury service under this subsection by means of telephone communication or mail.
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 10.050
- Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
- Clerk of court: means the trial court administrator or any other nonjudicial officer or employee of the circuit court for a county authorized by the presiding judge for the judicial district. See Oregon Statutes 10.010
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Juror: A person who is on the jury.
- Juror: means any juror or prospective juror. See Oregon Statutes 10.010
- Jury: means a body of persons temporarily selected from persons who live in a particular county or district, and invested with power to present or indict in respect to a crime or to try a question of fact. See Oregon Statutes 10.010
- Person: includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint stock companies. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(2) Notwithstanding ORS § 10.030 (4), a judge may, by own motion, excuse a juror whose presence on the jury would substantially impair the progress of the action on trial or prejudice the parties thereto.
(3) A judge of the court or clerk of court shall excuse a person from acting as a juror upon the request of that person if the person is 70 years of age or older. A person may request and be granted excuse from jury service under this subsection by means of telephone communication or mail.
(4) A judge of the court or clerk of court shall excuse a woman from acting as a juror upon the request of the woman if the woman is breast-feeding a child. A request for excuse from jury service under this subsection must be made in writing.
(5) Unless the public need for juries in the court outweighs the individual circumstances of the person summoned, a judge of the court or clerk of court shall excuse a person from acting as a juror upon the request of that person if the person is the sole caregiver for a child or other dependent during the court’s normal hours of operation, the person is unable to afford day care or make other arrangements for the care of the dependent, and the person personally attends to the dependent during the court’s normal hours of operation. [Amended by 1967 c.389 § 1; 1975 c.160 § 3; 1977 c.262 § 2; 1977 c.631 § 2; 1979 c.728 § 2; 1985 c.703 § 5; 1995 c.808 § 1; 1997 c.313 § 35; 1999 c.1085 § 1]