For Attorneys: Jury Trial Matters
You have been summoned for jury duty for the Mason Municipal Court. The Courtroom is on the first floor on the north end of the Mason Municipal Center at 5950 Mason Montgomery Road, Mason, Ohio 45040. The entrance and parking is behind the building. The court has jurisdiction over the City of Mason and the Township of Deerfield. If you no longer live inside this geographical boundary, you are ineligible to serve on jury duty. Please notify the Court that you have moved. For our records this notice should include some proof, such as a utility bill, that proves you now live elsewhere. In 1998 the Ohio Legislature eliminated the statutory exemptions from jury service and provided that no person is exempt from jury service for any reason. However, a juror may ask to be excused from jury service. A juror may be excused or obtain a postponement if he/she presents a valid reason IN WRITING to the Court. If the juror is unable to sign the written request for an excuse of service, someone else with knowledge of the facts may do so. Reasons must come within the following categories and should be as specific as possible:
A. The juror will necessarily be out of the country on the date of the trial and will not return in time to serve.
B. The interests of the public, or the juror, will be materially injured by the juror’s attendance.
C. The juror is physically unable to serve. (This reason must have a doctor’s excuse enclosed.)
D. The juror’s spouse or near relative has recently died or is dangerously ill.
E. The juror has been called as a juror for trial in a court of record in the county within the same jury (calendar) year.
F. The juror is a cloistered member of a religious organization.
Please do not request to be excused for reasons other than those indicated above. The Court, to be fair to all citizens whose names have been called, cannot excuse you. Please do not call the Clerk of Court officials to secure an excuse. The request MUST BE IN WRITING. If you are excused, or your service postponed, you will be notified accordingly and receive a certificate of that fact. If you are not excused or postponed, you must appear as summoned. The Court would also remind you that failure to appear when called can result in serious personal penalty. We hope you will approach jury duty with interest and understanding, and that you will benefit from the experience. It may require some sacrifice of your time, but it is a necessary function of our system of justice.
When you arrive at the Court for jury duty, you will be required to be screened for the presence of potential weapons. This screening process includes but is not limited to processing all carried items through an x-ray scanner, walking through a metal detector, and/or being scanned with a hand held metal detector. Many of the processes outlined here are no different than going to the airport. All of these processes are designed to be as non-invasive as possible. However, it is the duty of the Court to provide all users of the Court with a safe environment in which to settle disputes.
Such items as knitting needles, small pen knives and pocket knives, just to name a few, are considered by many not to be potentially harmful items. The security officer, manning the security post at the entrance to the Court facility, will confiscate items he/she considers potentially harmful and these items will be surrendered to the Security officer. The Security officer, at his/her discretion, may require you to return such items to your car or may keep such item(s), tagging each with your name, and placing them in a marked container. These items will be returned to you when you leave the Court facility.
Each time you leave the Court area, i.e. going outside to smoke, you will be required to go through the security process again.
Any contraband found in the possession of any potential juror that is in violation of any State or Federal statute, will be turned over to the appropriate law enforcement agency for disposition. Please choose carefully the items you bring to Court with you.
The Court apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause you, but takes the matter of your personal safety seriously.