Fulton County Courts Combine Jury Pools
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Fulton County officials announced Tuesday they’re combining the jury pools for the county’s State and Superior Courts. Officials say the change will make the jury selection process more efficient.
Having two separate jury pools was problematic, according to Fulton Co. Superior Court Chief Judge Cynthia Wright.
“You could be called in April, for example, to report to state court for jury duty,” Wright says, “Then you could be called by Superior Court for jury duty as early as one month following your state court service. So people were getting confused, they were getting frustrated.”
And time was wasted, Wright says, since some staff members were performing the same duty for two courts. And, she says, the size of the jury pool has increased.
“Last year we made quite an effort at increasing our jury pools by having our ‘Failure to Appear’ project,” she says, “So, wheareas we were only getting yields of sometimes 19-24 percent, we’re now getting yields of like 70 percent.”
The program required jurors to reschedule their service if they had conflicts. Those who didn’t reschedule were subject to fines or even jail time. Wright says as responses increased, the number of repeat summonses issued declined, which has also lowered costs.
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