Do I automatically have to appear on the date printed on the summons? Not necessarily. You must call 1-866-976-0526 or go to eJuror on the date and time listed in the packet you received with your summons to check your status. Please have your 9-digit participant number available, this is located on the summons to the right of the barcode by your name.  The Juror Information Line or eJuror will provide you with additional instructions regarding the date on which you should report for jury duty.

If you elect to send the paper forms mailed to you with your summons you need to return both the qualification questionnaire and the supplemental questionnaire. If you respond on-line via eJuror you are not required to submit the paper forms.

Please check your summons for jury service for your reporting location.

Cincinnati:
Potter Stewart US Courthouse
100 East 5th Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Columbus:
Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse
85 Marconi Boulevard
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Dayton:
Walter H. Rice Federal Building
and U.S. Courthouse 
200 W. Second Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402

You can respond to the summons via eJuror providing your new address. You will be disqualified from serving in this district once we have your new information.

Prospective jurors are pulled from the Ohio Secretary of State and Bureau of Motor Vehicle lists. And for more information, please see our Jury Plan.

A petit or trial jury is selected for the trial of a particular case. It may be civil or criminal matter. Such a jury will sit together, hear evidence, be given instructions to the applicable law in their case by the presiding judge, and will retire to deliberate and return a verdict. A petit jury usually consists of twelve jurors plus alternates in a criminal trial. Under federal rules, a petit jury in a civil trial may be composed of anywhere from six to twelve jurors.

In the United States, a grand jury consists of 16 to 23 people. Grand Juries convene for a period of 12-18 months. The Grand Jury does not determine guilt or innocence, but whether there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and that a specific person or persons committed it. If the Grand Jury finds that probable cause exists, then it will return a written statement of the charges called an indictment. After that, the indictment is filed as a criminal case and randomly assigned to a District Judge. In a sense the Grand Jury operates both as a "sword" authorizing the government's prosecution of suspected criminals and as a "shield" protecting citizens from unwarranted or inappropriate prosecutions.

If you have a situation which would cause you undue hardship or extreme inconvenience by appearing in court, or if you have a prepaid vacation during the time summoned, you must do the following: notify the court by email, fax or mail that a postponement of your jury service is essential, explain all the facts and include the earliest day in the near future when you reschedule your jury service. Your letter must contain your participant number. Your letter will be reviewed, and a determination will be made. Please allow 7 to 10 business days to process your request. If the Court does not have an email address on file, you will be notified via first class mail. You must continue to call as instructed for reporting information until you have received notification that your jury service has have been postponed.

You can automatically be excused with at doctor’s note, if you are over 70, or you have moved out of the counties the Southern District of Ohio serves. All other requests to be excused will be on a case-by-case basis and a determination will be made.

Unless otherwise waived, jurors receive $50.00 per day for attendance ($60.00 per day after the 10th day of petit service or the 45th day of grand jury service), round-trip daily mileage, and a flat- rate parking reimbursement. Long distance jurors residing more than 75 miles from the courthouse may also be eligible for actual lodging reimbursement and a per diem at the current General Services Administration rates.

Most federal employees are exempt from receiving the daily attendance payment.

Method of payment: Payment by check for jury service will be mailed after you have served.

You may bring beverages, food, and small portable electronics like iPods, cellular phones, tablets, e-readers, and laptops. Security will not allow the following items through the security checkpoint:

• knitting needles
• crochet hooks
• pocketknives or multi-use tools
• embroidery scissors
• letter openers
• mace or pepper spray
• razors
• tools (pliers, wrenches, hammers, etc.)
• heavy gauge chains
• firearms (real or toy)
• bullets or ammunition

No. You are protected by federal statute (28 U.S.C. § 1875) from being discharged, intimidated, or coerced by your employer because of your jury service. An employer violating this statute is subject to: damages to the employee for loss of wages or other benefits; an injunction prohibiting further such violations and providing appropriate relief, including reinstating the employee; a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 for each violation on each employee; and an order to perform community service. A juror claiming his or her employer violated his or her employment protection rights may apply for appointment of counsel to bring such a claim. Upon finding probable merit in such a claim, the court may appoint counsel to represent the juror under 28 U.S.C. § 1875(d).

Your employer's personnel policies, or the specific employment agreement between you and your employer, will determine whether any compensation is payable to you during jury service. There is no statutory requirement that an employer pay salary or wages during an employee’s jury service.

At check in, and upon request, a work slip or attendance verification will be provided. If selected as a juror you will receive proof of each day's attendance on your last reporting day, at the conclusion of the trial. You may also access the eJuror portion of our website and print an attendance letter daily.

There are restaurants within walking distance of the building, or you may bring a lunch with you. Lunch is not provided by the court.

No, the court has no childcare facilities.

Unless you receive a notice from this court granting a postponement of your jury service, or unless the court notifies you by phone or mail to appear at a different time, YOU MUST REPORT AS DIRECTED BY THE SUMMONS . FAILURE TO DO SO MAY BE PUNISHABLE BY FINE AND/OR IMPRISONMENT AS STATED IN 28 U.S.C. 1864(b): "Any person who fails to appear ... or who fails to show good cause for noncompliance with the [jury] summons may be fined not more than $1000 or imprisoned not more than three days, or both."

Attendance fees paid to persons reporting for jury selection and to persons seated as petit and grand jurors are taxable as part of their gross income. Under the Internal Revenue Code, courts must obtain Social Security numbers for those seated petit and grand jurors who are paid over $600 in attendance fees in any calendar year so that the judiciary may comply with its statutory duty to file information returns with the IRS and provide an IRS Form 1099 to those jurors. See: 26 U.S.C. § 6041

Your name has been chosen from a random selection in your division to serve as a POTENTIAL juror in the Southern District of Ohio. Please follow the instructions on the postcard. If you are determined qualified for jury service, you may be summoned for jury selection at any point during the next two years. If summoned, you will receive a separate mailing titled Summons of jury Service. Please note, even if you qualify, you will not automatically receive a summons.

Please complete the questionnaire withing ten (10) days of receipt of this postcard by going to the court’s website eJuror or scan the QR code on the front of the postcard. If you do not have internet call 833-396-3498 and select option 1 to request a paper copy.

** Failure to comply may result in contempt penalties up to $1000 fine, imprisonment for up to three days, community service, or any combination there of.**

You will not automatically receive a summons, even if you qualify as a juror. If you are selected, you will receive a separate mailing sometime within the next two years. This is a random draw, and we cannot tell you when or if you will serve.

Do not call the court or send letters requesting to be excused. Such excuse requests will not be processed. You may attach a physician’s statement regarding any permanent medical condition that would affect your ability to serve as a juror.

If the addressee is deceased, please log into eJuror on behalf of the addressee and state this fact in the remarks box provided, or call you may call 833-396-3498 and select option xxx-xxx-xxxx

Log onto eJuror, update your contact information and complete the questionnaire. To be able to change your address, you must put in the county in Ohio you lived in that made you eligible for jury service in the Southern District of Ohio. Please complete the questionnaire even if you have moved to another county or out-of-state. You may call 833-396-3498 and select option 1 to request a paper copy.

You can log onto eJuror and fill out the questionnaire on their behalf. Please indicate who completed the form on behalf of the addressee in the remarks box provided.

If you are unable to fill out the form, someone else may do it for you provided that person indicates in the remarks section why it was necessary for him or her to do so.

The court understands that not all prospective jurors have access to a computer. You may wish to check with your local library or use the computer of a friend or relative. If none of these options are available, you may call 833-396-3498 and select option 1 to request a paper copy.  Once you receive the paper copy, please fill it out and return it in the postage paid envelope within (10) days of receipt.

The court follows current best practices for database and server security, maintained by highly skilled Information Technology court staff and supported by a dedicated national network security group.

The Juror Qualification Questionnaire you complete is used only by court staff to determine your eligibility to serve as a juror sometime in the future. Except by judicial order for extraordinary circumstances, only court staff can review the information you provide to the Federal Court.

The summons and supplemental forms you complete are used for Judges and attorneys to help speed up the jury selection process the day of trials. Your information is given to them only if you are selected for the voir dire process.

The last page of the eJuror process is called a confirmation page. Reviewing this page is important for you to view your answers and make edits. Once you submit this page, you will receive verification that you have successfully completed the eJuror process. If you do not receive this verification, the court will not have received your paperwork.  Please access the eJuror again to complete the process.

If eJuror has stopped working, please clear your cache on your computer. If you are using a cell phone, please try on a computer. If it still does not work, please fill out the paper copy sent to you if you got a summons and a supplemental questionnaire. If you got a qualification questionnaire postcard, call 833-396-3498 to request a paper copy.