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In the Courts of Common Pleas and
General Sessions
"Jurors are an integral part of our
Judicial System, a system that cannot function
without the presence of citizens who are willing to
assist . . . "
Julie J. Armstrong, Charleston
County Clerk of Court
Selection
Each year, the State Election Commission provides
Charleston County with a list containing the names
of registered voters, persons holding valid driver's
licenses, and persons with state identification
cards. Duplicate names and persons under the age of
18 have already been stricken from the list by the
state. This list is on a magnetic tape and is used
by Charleston County to create a computer file from
which jurors are selected. The jury selection
computer program insures that jurors are selected
entirely at random. The juror selection for the
Magistrate's Courts only selects jurors who live in
the area served by a particular Magistrate's Court.
while the Circuit, Coroner's, and Probate Courts
select jurors from throughout the entire county.
Once selected, summonses are created and mailed out
to the persons selected for service.
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Jury selection takes place at different times and
frequencies, depending on the number of jury trials
scheduled by the various County Courts. The county
Grand Jurors are selected only twice each year,
whereas the Common Pleas and General Sessions juries
are drawn on a weekly basis. Magistrates' Courts may
draw a jury only a few times a year, depending on
the number of requests for jury trial received by
the courts. The Coroner's Office also draws its
jurors on an "as-needed" basis. There are rare cases
when the Clerk of Court will draw a jury for the
Probate Court.
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Persons chosen for jury service in the Courts of
General Sessions and Common Pleas are exempted from
further service in those courts for a period of
three years following the year in which they served.
The computer selection program marks the names of
persons selected for service so that they cannot be
chosen again until their exemption period has
passed. However, this does not prevent you from
being picked to serve on a Magistrate's Court jury,
Coroner's Court jury or a Municipal Court jury. The
exemption period for Grand Jurors is five years
following the year of service.
Persons chosen for jury duty in a Magistrate's
Court are exempted from selection for additional
service in a Magistrate's Court for a period of
three months following the month and year in which
they served. This exemption does not affect the
possibility of being selected to serve on a Common
Pleas, General Sessions or Coroner's Court jury.
Persons chosen for jury service in the Coroner's
Court are exempted from further service for a period
of one year following the year in which they served.
Like the other courts, the exemption only applies to
selection within the Coroner's Court and does not
prevent selection for service by another court.
Municipal Courts select juries independently of
the County Courts, and may have different rules
regarding jury selection and service.
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Unless you are disqualified, exempted, or have
been excused by the Clerk of Court you are required
to appear in court at the day and time specified on
the jury summons. Failure to appear may result in a
citation for contempt of court, and a bench warrant
may be issued for your arrest. Persons seeking to be
excused should contact the jury clerk. If you do not
contact the jury clerk, or should the jury clerk be
unable to excuse you, you are required to
appear on the first day of the jury term
and request the judge to excuse you. Call
843-958-5005 and ask to speak to the Jury Clerk if
you have any further questions.
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You may be disqualified from
jury service (not allowed to serve) if:
- You have been convicted in a state or
federal court of a crime punishable by more than
one year of imprisonment and
your civil rights have not been restored.
- You are unable to read, write, speak or
understand the English language to a degree
sufficient to allow you to act as a juror.
- If you have less than a 6th grade (or
equivalent) education.
- If you are unable to render efficient jury
service due to severe mental or physical
infirmity.
Failure to state such disqualifying facts upon
questioning by the judge, clerk of court or hearing
officer is punishable as contempt of court.
Likewise, furnishing false or misleading information
on a Juror Response Form may also subject you to
penalties for contempt of court. Further, no clerk or
deputy clerk of court, constable, sheriff, probate
judge, county commissioner, magistrate, county
officer or any person employed within the walls of
any courthouse is eligible to serve as a juror. No
member of a grand jury which returned an indictment
may be on the petit jury for the trial of the case.
If you have been summoned to appear as a juror in
the Court of Common Pleas, or the Court of General
Sessions, you should have received a Juror Response
Form with your summons. If you meet any of the
above-named criteria for disqualification, you
should indicate as much on your Response Form and
return within two calendar days it in the return
envelope furnished and it will not be necessary for
you to appear on the date specified on the summons.
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You have the choice to serve or not serve if you
are over sixty-five years old, or if you were
inadvertently summoned after having served within
the past three calendar years as a circuit court
juror. If you meet any of the above-listed criteria
for exemption, you should indicate as much on your
Response Form and return it in the return envelope
within two calendar days. If you return the form in
time it will not be necessary for you to appear on
the date specified on the summons.
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You may ask the presiding Judge to excuse you
from jury service if you can show good and
sufficient reason by application filed with the
clerk of court, showing why you should not have to
serve. Typical reasons might include temporary or
permanent physical disability, or women with
children under the age of seven without means of
providing adequate care while performing jury duty.
Before you can be excused for one of these reasons,
you may be asked to furnish an affidavit to the
Clerk of Court.
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Persons seeking to be excused for any reason
should speak with the presiding Judge. Typically,
you will not be excused for work-related reasons. It
is against the law for an employer to penalize you
for performing jury service or to prevent you from
serving as a juror. If you are currently involved in
an important project, going out of town on business
or having to work extra hours, you may be able to
reschedule your jury service to a more convenient
date. You should contact the jury clerk at
(843) 958-5005 if you wish to reschedule
your jury service for another term of court.
Upon receiving your check for jury compensation,
you will be furnished with a letter from the Clerk
of Court indicating the amount you are being paid,
the number of days you served as a juror and the
dates on which you served. This letter may be given
to your employer as proof of your service as a
juror.
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Yes; persons seeking a postponement of service
should contact the Clerk of Court. You will be asked
to state your reasons for seeking the postponement,
but postponements are generally granted for good
cause. Typical reasons might be a student with final
exams scheduled for the same week as the jury term,
someone recovering from a serious illness, or a
business person who expects to be out-of-town on
business. If the postponement is allowed, you will
be informed of a new date on which to report for
jury duty. Your jury service may be postponed only
one time.
Yes.
Answer the questionnaire and save your changes.
Email the completed questionnaire as an attachment
to our Juror Coordinator:
juryservice@charlestoncounty.org
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Compensation
Juror compensation is set by Charleston County
Council. You will be compensated for your service as
a juror at a rate of $10 per day. Mileage is
reimbursed at a rate of 44.5 cents per mile per day,
and mileage is calculated based on your zip code.
Free parking is available at the Judicial Center.
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Yes; you will be paid whether or not you are
actually chosen for a trial.
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Except in special situations, meals and snacks
are not provided by the court. Jurors are generally
free to leave the building for lunch and to return
home in the evening. There is a snack bar located on
the first floor of the Judicial Center, and a
number of eating establishments in the area. You may
not take food or beverages into the courtroom. If
you leave the Judicial Center for lunch, you must
not be late in returning at the time specified by
the judge or clerk in charge.
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Serving
Your service will normally be only for one week.
Numerous courts may be in session during the term
for which you have been selected to serve. Cases set
for trial may be postponed or settled just as they
are scheduled to begin, and other cases may be moved
up on the Jury Trial Roster. Since it is impossible
to predict the outcome of the cases on the Roster,
you should plan to be with us the entire week. The
hours of court operation are determined by the
presiding Judge; however, court generally begins
each day at 9:30 AM and adjourns at approximately
5:30 PM. At the end of each day or if dismissed
earlier, you should make sure that you know where
and at what time you should report on the next day.
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Charleston County, together with Berkeley County,
forms the 9th Judicial Circuit of the State's 16
circuit courts. The Circuit Court system in South
Carolina is divided into the Court of Common Pleas,
which hears only civil cases, and the Court of
General Sessions which hears only criminal matters.
However, jurors may serve as needed in either court.
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Civil and criminal case jury trials are conducted
under similar rules and in much the same manner. A
few differences you will notice include:
- The manner in which peremptory challenges of
jurors are handled differs slightly in civil and
criminal trials.
- The jurors' oath which is administered to
all jurors varies somewhat for civil and
criminal trials.
- The manner in which jurors must weigh
evidence will vary considerably between civil
and criminal cases. In a civil case, allegations
by the parties are proven by a "preponderance of
the evidence" to support a finding in favor of
one of the two litigants. In a criminal case,
the defendant must be proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt. Because of these distinctions,
the judge's instructions to a civil trial jury
will be quite different from those given to a
criminal trial jury.
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The Judiciary requires appropriate attire in the
courtroom; specifically no tank tops, shorts, hats
or "flip-flop" sandals are allowed.
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You aren't required to bring anything with you,
although you may wish to bring a book or magazine to
read during any delays or waiting periods; do not
bring newspapers. Because of the need for quiet, you
should not bring items such as computer games. Also,
you may not bring activated cellular phones or
pagers into the courtroom.
When you arrive at the Judicial Center, you will
be required to pass through a metal detector. This
metal detector is provided for the security of
yourself and others. The guards on duty are required
to confiscate such contraband items as guns, knives,
mace, or other implements which could be used as
weapons or are considered a danger to the court. If
you own such items, you should leave them at home.
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There are certain rules of behavior that a juror
should follow. Foremost among these is the
requirement to always be on time.
Delays inconvenience the judge, the attorney's, the
parties, witnesses and other jurors. When a court
session begins and the judge enters the courtroom,
everyone including the jurors, should rise. You
should always give your undivided attention
to every question and answer during a trial, and
during the voir dire process. You must answer all
questions put to you with complete honesty.
You should attempt to be as quiet as
possible in court, and also when you are in
the hallways near the courtrooms.
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Roll call is held each morning to record the
presence of the jurors on the general jury panel. At
the end of each day, you will be informed as to the
time and place to report on the following day, or
call the juror information line after 6:00 P.M.
Roll call for the first day of the jury term is
held in the courtroom or jury pool room to which you
have been instructed to report on your notice or
summons. The first day's roll call is a bit more
involved than on subsequent days. You will be asked
to state your name, age, occupation, and if married,
the occupation of your spouse.
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The phrase "Voir Dire" literally
means "to speak the truth". In court, it refers to a
process of determining whether a juror can serve
fairly and impartially in a given case by asking the
juror various questions. These questions are
designed to let the court learn whether a juror has
prior knowledge of the case, is related to or
employed by one of the parties in the case, and
whether the juror has prejudices and opinions which
would make it impossible for him/her to make an
impartial decision in the case.
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Your name may never be drawn for a trial. There
are many factors involved in selecting a jury for a
case, and it may be that you are never actually
called upon to deliberate a case. It is also
possible that you will be selected to deliberate
multiple cases. When you check in with the court at
roll call on the first day, you become part of a
general jury pool.
The selection of jurors is the first step in the
actual trial of a jury case and the first step of
this selection process is called "voir dire" (a full
definition of "voir dire" is given above). The judge
will first explain what the case is about in general
terms, and state the names of the parties involved,
and their attorneys. The judge may then begin
questioning the jurors. Some questions will be
directed to all the jurors present, and others may
be directed to individual jurors. If a prospective
juror is not found to be legally qualified to act as
a juror, s/he may be excused "for cause", by either
the judge or one of the attorneys.
After the conclusion of voir dire, the attorneys
have the right to exercise a certain number of
"peremptory challenges". This means that the
attorney may excuse a juror without having to state
a specific reason. Jurors who are challenged and
thereby excused from the trial should not be
offended, as each attorney has a different idea as
to the type of juror that would be most beneficial
to the trial of the case. Following all peremptory
challenges, the jury selection process is concluded,
and the jury is sworn in. Persons excused generally
return to the juror's waiting area where they may be
called for selection on another jury.
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Q: Directions
to the Cumberland Garage and the Judicial Center.
From Mt. Pleasant
Take the Cooper River Bridge into Charleston. Get
off on Downtown Meeting Street South. Follow Meeting
Street south towards the Market area. After you have
passed Market Street, continue to the next block,
which is Cumberland. Turn Left. The parking garage
is directly on your left. When exiting the garage,
return to Meeting Street and continue south towards
Broad Street. The Judicial Center is between the
Historic Courthouse, which sits directly on the
corner of Broad and Meeting, and the O.T. Wallace
building located on Meeting Street.
From the North Area
Take I-26 headed into the City of Charleston. Get
into the far left lane, which says Meeting Street
Visitors Information. Continue down Meeting Street
towards the Market area. After you have passed
Market Street, continue to the next block, which is
Cumberland. Turn Left. The parking garage is
directly on your left. When exiting the garage,
return to Meeting Street and continue south towards
Broad Street. The Judicial Center is between the
Historic Courthouse, which sits directly on the
corner of Broad and Meeting, and the O.T. Wallace
building located on Meeting Street.
From James Island
Take the James
Island Connector toward downtown Charleston. Exit on
Lockwood South and follow onto Broad Street.
Follow Broad Street to Meeting Street and turn left
onto Meeting. Go two blocks and turn right on
Cumberland Street. The garage is on your immediate
left. When exiting the garage, return to Meeting
Street and continue south towards Broad Street. The
Judicial Center is between the Historic Courthouse,
which sits directly on the corner of Broad and
Meeting, and the O.T. Wallace building located on
Meeting Street.
From West Ashley
Take Savannah
Highway North/US 17 towards downtown Charleston.
Once on the Cross-Town, use the Lockwood South exit.
Follow onto Broad Street.
Follow Broad Street to Meeting Street and turn left
onto Meeting. Go two blocks and turn right on
Cumberland Street. The garage is on your immediate
left. When exiting the garage, return to Meeting
Street and continue south towards Broad Street. The
Judicial Center is between the Historic Courthouse,
which sits directly on the corner of Broad and
Meeting, and the O.T. Wallace building located on
Meeting Street.
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