2.02.180 [Rule 15] Jury Trials

(a) Jury request; fee.

A jury trial shall be held if requested by either party to the case at least ten (10) days before the trial, and only if specifically allowed by applicable Tribal law. The party who requests a jury trial shall pay to the Court a jury fee established by the Rules of the Court. Payment of the jury fee may be waived by the Chief Judge upon the request of a party if payment of the fee would result in severe hardship to the party. The party who requests a jury trial or a visiting judge who fails to provide at least five (5) days notice by a written motion to continue shall be liable for the payment of jury fees and fees payable to the visiting judge at the discretion of the Judge presiding over the trial.

(b) Eligibility; jury list.

To be eligible to serve as a juror on a civil case, a person must be a Tribal member who is a resident of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, must be eighteen (18) years of age or older, must never have been convicted in any court of a felony, and must not at the time the list is made, or at the time of trial, be holding the office of Tribal judge, Tribal police officer, or Tribal Council Member.

(1) For the purposes of this section, a permanent resident of the Reservation is a person who rents or owns a dwelling place on the reservation, and who resides in that dwelling place other than seasonally or periodically, and who receives mail on the reservation at a reservation post office box or reservation street address, and who intends to make the reservation his or her permanent home for the future, and who does not claim residence in any other location for any purpose.

(2) The Tribal Clerk shall prepare each year a list of persons eligible to serve as jurors, and shall provide the jury list to the Clerk of the Court. The Clerk of the Court shall prepare a ballot in the name of each eligible person and protect the ballots from access by unauthorized persons by placing the ballots in a master ballot box and securing the master ballot box in a safe.

(1) Not less than seven (7) days before the date set for the beginning of a jury trial, the judge shall draw from the master ballot box, at random, the number of ballots specified by the Rules of the Court for a civil jury trial of the type scheduled. The Clerk of the Court shall then issue and cause to be served upon each person whose ballot was drawn a Jury Summons.

(2) The Jury Summons shall notify the person being summoned to appear in Court on the date set for the beginning of the trial, one hour before the time set for the trial. Failure of a person served with a Jury Summons to appear shall constitute contempt of court and the Summons shall contain a warning to that effect. Any person for whom jury service would be a severe hardship may be excused from service by a judge, but such excuse from jury duty shall be disfavored.

(d) Jury selection.

On the day of the trial, the Clerk shall deposit in a ballot box ballots containing the names of each of the summoned potential jurors who have appeared by the time set for their appearance. Those persons whose names are in the ballot box shall be known as the jury panel. After the Judge calls the Court to order, he or shall draw from the jury panel ballot box, at random, the names of fourteen (14) members of the jury panel, who shall then be seated in the jury area. The Clerk shall make a list of the names in the order in which they are called.

(e) Removal for cause; examination by Court, parties.

(1) After the first fourteen (14) members of the jury panel have been seated, the judge shall examine each of them as to their qualifications, and excuse any who appear to him or her to be biased, prejudiced, unable to fairly and effectively perform the duties of a juror or otherwise not qualified to serve as juror. The judge shall permit the parties or their counsel to similarly examine and ask for the removal of jurors for cause, without any limit to the number of jurors so challenged or removed, except that all such challenges must be in good faith. The judge shall excuse any juror he or she believes to be unqualified, directing him or her to leave the jury area.

(2) After all the disqualified jurors have been excused from the jury area, enough additional ballots shall be drawn by the judge to replace the disqualified persons with members of the jury panel. The Clerk shall add their names to the list in the order in which they were called. The procedure for challenge for cause shall continue until fourteen (14) qualified persons are seated in the jury area.

(f) Peremptory Challenges.

After the fourteen (14) qualified persons have been seated in the jury area, each party shall have the right to remove three persons from the jury without stating any reason. The parties shall alternatively remove jurors, or waive their turn to do so, until they have exhausted their peremptory challenges.

(g) Trial jury; alternate.

The Clerk of the Court shall then read aloud the first seven (7) names on the list and those persons shall be jurors for the trial. The Clerk shall also read aloud the eighth (8th) name on the list, and that person shall be an alternate juror for the trial. The alternate juror shall act in all respects as a juror, except that he or she shall not vote during jury deliberations unless one of the other jurors has been excused by the judge during the course of the trial.