Jury Service Overview

Every two months prospective jurors are randomly selected from the Court’s master jury pool and sent letters instructing them to complete a juror qualification form. The master jury pool is created by pulling names from the list of registered voters maintained by the Missouri Secretary of State and from the list of licensed drivers and those issued non-driver state identification cards maintained by the Missouri Department of Revenue. The letter instructs the prospective jurors to complete a juror questionnaire form within ten (10) days by logging into www.courts.mo.gov, selecting Missouri Courts, and then selecting the Juror Portal tab. Each question is to be answered. At the end of the questionnaire prospective jurors are given the opportunity to request to be excused from service by hitting the “what if I can’t serve” button and there they are given the opportunity to give a reason for such request and to upload any supporting documentation. A partial excuse request is also permitted should they have scheduled vacations or appointments. Prospective jurors may also e-mail any supporting documentation for their request to be excused to jaspercountyjury@courts.mo.gov. Any questions should be directed to this e-mail address if possible. A telephone message may be left at 417-625-2751 if there is no e-mail access and the call will be returned. After reviewing requests to be excused and the supporting documentation the court will notify prospective jurors whether or not they have been disqualified or excused. If no notification that prospective juror has been excused they will be expected to report for jury service on the date they were summoned to report.

Jury Summons

After the completed questionnaires have been submitted those that are qualified to serve are placed into a qualified pool. Approximately 2 weeks prior to scheduled jury trial a pool of prospective jurors is pulled from this qualified list to receive a summons which is issued via the U.S Postal Service. The Summons notes the place, date, and time to appear. Please bring your summons with you when you appear. Verifying Report Date There is an automated message line of 417-625-4362 on the jury summons directing the prospective juror to call after 5:00 PM the evening before the appearance date. This phone number may be called at any time, and as often as liked, to see if the status of the appearance date has changed. If there is a message that your jury trial has cancelled there is no reason to continue to call that number until a new summons is received to report on a different date.