Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 3. JUDICIARY, COURTS

CHAPTER 15. JURIES AND JURORS

Part 5. Trial Juries -- District Court

Obtaining Additional Jurors When Necessary

3-15-506. Obtaining additional jurors when necessary. (1) If it appears to a district judge that additional jurors will be needed for a trial, the jury commissioner shall draw as many jurors as are necessary to secure the required number of additional jurors. Before the jury commissioner draws the jurors, the judge shall by appropriate order designate the number of jurors needed.

(2) If the judge believes that securing the additional jurors from the whole county would cause unnecessary delay or expense, the judge may order the jurors selected from only a designated portion of the county, which may not be less than the corporate limits of the county seat. If, in the selection of the additional jurors, a juror is drawn who is a resident of an area outside the area designated by the court order, the juror's name or number must be returned to the jury box or reinstated on the computer database and a new juror drawn.

(3) When the required number of names have been selected, the judge may order the prospective jurors notified by telephone or mail by the jury commissioner.

History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 110, L. 1969; amd. Sec. 58, Ch. 344, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 93-1512; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 313, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 200, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 162, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 241, L. 1999.