New One Day, One Trial Option for Jury Duty

Gwinnett County trial judges approved a pilot project last month, expected to reduce juror costs and make jury service more convenient for Gwinnett citizens.

Under this new plan, all Gwinnett judges with a trial scheduled on a Monday will select jurors from a general pool. The county says this will reduce the total number of jurors by about 20 percent. Those jurors may have to participate in multiple courtroom panels throughout the day, but when the day is done, those not selected will be released. Jurors who were selected for a panel will be released as soon as their one trial is finished. 

According to the county, this method will save $30 per day for every juror who does not have to go to the courthouse. It will also free up spaces in the parking lot and reduce long lines at the security checkpoint at the .

The county estimates they reduced jury costs by $4,400 over the four week pilot period. Projected savings are about $100,000 a year.

“Judges were attempting to deal with two issues in creating the pilot project,” said Court Administrator Phil Boudewyns in a release. “The first goal was to save unnecessary inconvenience to the jurors and the second consideration was to save money when jurors were not actually needed for a trial.”

Previously, jurors were required to make a week long commitment for jury duty and remain on call for the entire week even if they were not needed for a trial.

“After analyzing the new data, we were able to see the accumulated numbers of jurors that were brought to the courthouse week after week but not used for a trial,” said Judge Rich in a release. “We also found that even though the jurors were placed on call for the rest of the week, they rarely were brought back for another trial.”

The new one day, one trial format began on November 1st.