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Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do you determine where I will serve?

    The United States District Court is a federal court with three divisional offices.   If you are a resident of Connecticut, you are eligible for service in this court and your service cannot be transferred to any other court.   You are to report to the seat of court indicated on your juror summons, as follows:

    • BRIDGEPORT: Fairfield County  (915 Lafayette Boulevard, Bridgeport)
    • HARTFORD:  Hartford, Litchfield, Tolland, and Windham Counties (450 Main Street, Hartford)
    • NEW HAVEN:  New Haven, New London, and Middlesex Counties (141 Church Street, New Haven)

     

  • Do I have to serve?

    Yes

    The U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to a trial by jury.  The jury must represent a cross-section of the community in order to prevent discrimination.  For this reason, citizens will only be excused from serving for a few reasons.  Most jurors do not qualify for a statutory exemption from jury duty.  However, if you believe you have an unusually difficult personal or business situation, you may provide that excuse to the court in writing.  The court will then determine whether or not you meet the statutory requirements allowing you to be excused.

  • How was I selected for jury Duty?

    Every two years, a list of potential jurors is created by combining names from two lists.  These lists are:

    1. licensed motor vehicle operators from the Department of Motor Vehicles,
    2. registered voters from the Voter Registry of the Secretary of State,

    The two lists are combined and duplicate names are removed.  Individuals are randomly selected for jury service from the list created by this process.   Confidential juror questionnaires are mailed . Once returned jurors are either qualified, excused, exempt or disqualified.  The qualified jurors create our master wheel.    As jurors are needed, they are mailed summonses from the qualified wheel.

     

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