Request By:
Mr. Carroll C. Fugate
Magistrate, District #2
Courthouse
Hazard, Kentucky 41701
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You raise two questions: (1) What is the proper method of selecting a jury in your magistrate's court? (2) May you use the quarterly court jury wheel in selecting such jurors? (3) May the magistrate impose upon the defendant the cost of the jury?
As to question no. 1, the jury commissioner system prescribed by KRS 25.037 relates only to jurors used in county and quarterly courts. There are no comparable statutory provisions for justices' courts. The use of bystanders would be proper.
It would not be proper for you to use the quarterly court jury wheel since that wheel is produced under KRS 25.037, which statute does not include justices' courts.
As to imposing jury costs on a criminal defendant, costs, including jury costs, can be imposed only on a convicted defendant. KRS 64.340 and 453.020. KRS 29.410(2) provides that in inferior courts the cost of the jury shall be paid by the party demanding the jury and taxed as costs against the unsuccessful party. This suggests that the party asking for a jury must advance the jury costs, subject to the costs being finally paid by the loser. However, a defendant in a criminal case is not responsible for costs except in the event of a conviction. This would mean a refund where defendant has demanded a jury and is acquitted. Otherwise, KRS 64.340 and 453.020 would be ineffective. See