SECTIONS 895-902 - California Statutes

PENAL CODE

SECTION 895-902

895. During the month preceding the beginning of the fiscal year of
the county, the superior court of each county shall make an order
designating the estimated number of grand jurors that will, in the
opinion of the court, be required for the transaction of the business
of the court during the ensuing fiscal year as provided in Section
905.5.

896. (a) Immediately after an order is made pursuant to Section
895, the court shall select the grand jurors required by personal
interview for the purpose of ascertaining whether they possess the
qualifications prescribed by subdivision (a) of Section 893. If a
person so interviewed, in the opinion of the court, possesses the
necessary qualifications, in order to be listed the person shall sign
a statement declaring that the person will be available for jury
service for the number of hours usually required of a member of the
grand jury in that county.
(b) The selections shall be made of men and women who are not
exempt from serving and who are suitable and competent to serve as
grand jurors pursuant to Sections 893, 898, and 899. The court shall
list the persons so selected and required by the order to serve as
grand jurors during the ensuing fiscal year of the county, or until a
new list of grand jurors is provided, and shall at once place this
list in the possession of the jury commissioner.

898. The list of grand jurors made in a county having a population
in excess of four million shall contain the number of persons which
has been designated by the court in its order.

899. The names for the grand jury list shall be selected from the
different wards, judicial districts, or supervisorial districts of
the respective counties in proportion to the number of inhabitants
therein, as nearly as the same can be estimated by the persons making
the lists. The grand jury list shall be kept separate and distinct
from the trial jury list. In a county of the first class, the names
for such list may be selected from the county at large.

900. On receiving the list of persons selected by the court, the
jury commissioner shall file it in the jury commissioner's office and
have the list, which shall include the name of the judge who
selected each person on the list, published one time in a newspaper
of general circulation, as defined in Section 6000 of the Government
Code, in the county. The jury commissioner shall then do either of
the following:
(a) Write down the names on the list onto separate pieces of paper
of the same size and appearance, fold each piece so as to conceal
the name, and deposit the pieces in a box to be called the "grand
jury box."
(b) Assign a number to each name on the list and place, in a box
to be called the "grand jury box," markers of the same size, shape,
and color, each containing a number which corresponds with a number
on the list.

901. (a) The persons whose names are so returned shall be known as
regular jurors, and shall serve for one year and until other persons
are selected and returned.
(b) If the superior court so decides, the presiding judge may name
up to 10 regular jurors not previously so named, who served on the
previous grand jury and who so consent, to serve for a second year.
(c) The court may also decide to select grand jurors pursuant to
Section 908.2.

902. The names of persons drawn for grand jurors shall be drawn
from the grand jury box by withdrawing either the pieces of paper
placed therein pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 900 or the
markers placed therein pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 900.
If, at the end of the fiscal year of the county, there are the names
of persons in the grand jury box who have not been drawn during the
fiscal year to serve and have not served as grand jurors, the names
of such persons may be placed on the list of grand jurors drawn for
the succeeding fiscal year.