494.430. Persons entitled to be excused from jury service--determinations made by judge--undue or extreme physical or financial hardship defined--documentation required, when.

MISSOURI STATUTES AND CODES

494.430. Persons entitled to be excused from jury service--determinations made by judge--undue or extreme physical or financial hardship defined--documentation required, when.

Persons entitled to be excused from jury service--determinationsmade by judge--undue or extreme physical or financial hardshipdefined--documentation required, when.

494.430. 1. Upon timely application to the court, the followingpersons shall be excused from service as a petit or grand juror:

(1) Any person who has served on a state or federal petit or grandjury within the preceding two years;

(2) Any person whose absence from his or her regular place ofemployment would, in the judgment of the court, tend materially andadversely to affect the public safety, health, welfare or interest;

(3) Any person upon whom service as a juror would in the judgment ofthe court impose an undue or extreme physical or financial hardship;

(4) Any person licensed as a health care provider as such term isdefined in section 538.205, RSMo, but only if such person provides awritten statement to the court certifying that he or she is actuallyproviding health care services to patients, and that the person's serviceas a juror would be detrimental to the health of the person's patients;

(5) Any employee of a religious institution whose religiousobligations or constraints prohibit their serving on a jury. Thecertification of the employment and obligation or constraint may beprovided by the employee's religious supervisor.

2. A judge of the court for which the individual was called to juryservice shall make undue or extreme physical or financial hardshipdeterminations. The authority to make these determinations is delegableonly to court officials or personnel who are authorized by the laws of thisstate to function as members of the judiciary.

3. A person asking to be excused based on a finding of undue orextreme physical or financial hardship must take all actions necessary tohave obtained a ruling on that request by no later than the date on whichthe individual is scheduled to appear for jury duty.

4. Unless it is apparent to the court that the physical hardshipwould significantly impair the person's ability to serve as a juror, forpurposes of sections 494.400 to 494.460 undue or extreme physical orfinancial hardship is limited to circumstances in which an individualwould:

(1) Be required to abandon a person under his or her personal care orsupervision due to the impossibility of obtaining an appropriate substitutecaregiver during the period of participation in the jury pool or on thejury; or

(2) Incur costs that would have a substantial adverse impact on thepayment of the individual's necessary daily living expenses or on those forwhom he or she provides the principal means of support; or

(3) Suffer physical hardship that would result in illness or disease.

5. Undue or extreme physical or financial hardship does not existsolely based on the fact that a prospective juror will be required to beabsent from his or her place of employment.

6. A person asking a judge to grant an excuse based on undue orextreme physical or financial hardship shall provide the judge withdocumentation as required by the judge, such as, but not limited to,federal and state income tax returns, medical statements from licensedphysicians, proof of dependency or guardianship, and similar documents,which the judge finds to clearly support the request to be excused.Failure to provide satisfactory documentation shall result in a denial ofthe request to be excused. Such documents shall be filed under seal.

7. After two years, a person excused from jury service shall becomeeligible once again for qualification as a juror unless the person wasexcused from service permanently. A person is excused from jury servicepermanently only when the deciding judge determines that the underlyinggrounds for being excused are of a permanent nature.