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Never been summoned? Houston County judge explains why some people are never picked for jury duty

Judge Jason Ashford says the rules are, "You have to be a resident of the county, that you have to be a U.S. citizen, and that you cannot be a felon."

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — One Central Georgia woman says she wants to sit on a jury, but she wonders why she hasn't been summoned.

In light of the Derek Chauvin trial, Kim Evans is curious what the qualifications are to serve on a jury.

"It just got me to thinking, 'I wonder why I've never been called for jury duty,' and my husband I talked about it, and he hasn't either," said Evans.

Evans even took her curiosity to a Facebook group. She created a poll to see if others were in her shoes. She says some of her friends and family members have served more than once.

"So I'm just curious, what is it that makes somebody more desirable or picked, or is it random? What is it that makes one person be summoned four or five times, and others, never summoned?"

"It's just like, OK, I've had a driver's license, I've been registered to vote in Georgia since the early '80s, and my husband as well," she said.

Houston County State Court Judge Jason Ashford says potential jurors are randomly selected from a list of those who are eligible. That pool is determined by what Ashford calls "motor voters" which refers to Georgians who have a drivers license and who are registered to vote. Also, a person must be at least 18 years old and be adequately proficient in English.

"In Georgia, those are the requirements -- that you have to be a resident of the county, that you have to be a U.S. citizen, and that you cannot be a felon," said Ashford.

He says if you're a felon who had your civil rights restored, then you do qualify for jury duty.

Once you receive a summons, you go through the selection process where lawyers seek to pick an impartial jury.

"The individual members can be questioned about their background about any kind of knowledge about the case, if they have any anything in their background that might make them not necessarily the best person to serve on this particular jury," he said.

Judge Ashford says it's important to remember that being summoned for jury duty is very much the luck of the draw. He says if you're never summoned for jury duty, there's no need to worry.

He says there are some special circumstances that may excuse you from jury service including people over the age of 70 and people with ordered military duty.

He says after a year off, jury duty will soon resume at Houston County State Court. Summonses for that will begin to go out in May for civil cases.

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