Three Other Kinds of Jury Duty

In addition to jury duty in the county Municipal and Superior courts, North County residents can be called to serve on the juries of three other judicial systems: the County Grand Jury, the Federal District Court and the Federal Grand Jury. All of these are located in downtown San Diego.

County Grand Jury

Nineteen jurors are selected from a list of San Diego County citizens nominated by superior and municipal court judges. These same 19 people serve for a full year and they are required to appear three to four days a week. For this they are paid $25 for each day served and 26 cents per mile round trip.

Federal District Court

Jurors’ names are drawn at random by computer from the most recent registrar of voters list in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

The term of service in the federal judicial system is three months. For this jurors are paid $40 per day and 24 cents per mile round trip. In addition, they are paid up to $12.50 per day for parking.

Unlike the county system, there is no limitation on distance traveled. Federal jurors who must travel extreme distances (over 70 miles) to the courthouse in downtown San Diego, such as those from Imperial County, are paid up to $110 per day for meals and lodgings in addition to their jury duty pay.

Federal Grand Jury

Grand jury members for the federal system are picked randomly by computer from the same list as the federal district system. However, the period of service is from 18 months to 2 years. The pay and traveling expenses are the same as for the Federal District Court jurors.

There are now four federal grand juries convened but there have been as many as 11 going at the one time. Each jury consists of 23 people--16 are required for a quorum and 11 for an indictment. Notices to report for federal grand jury duty are sent each May and November, or as required by the U.S. district attorney.