Local Rule CR-24: Trial Jurors
W.D. Tex. — Criminal rule
RULE CR-24. TRIAL JURORS
(a) Selecting Trial Jurors.
(1) Trial jurors' selection, qualification, summoning, and exemption or excuse from service are governed by Appendix D.
(2) To assist the court in selecting a jury, each prospective juror must complete the juror information form set out in Appendix D-1.
(b) Bailiff's Oath.
The bailiff, or other special officer appointed to attend upon a jury, must take the following oath:
"You solemnly swear that you will keep this jury during their retirement, in some convenient place removed from the presence of other persons; that you will not, without leave of the Court, suffer any person to speak to them; that you will not without such leave, hold or have any communication with them yourself, except to ascertain whether they have agreed upon their verdict and to attend to their needs; and that you will well and faithfully discharge your duties as bailiff. So help you God."
Committee Notes
1. The language of Rule CR-24 has been amended as part of the general restyling of the local criminal rules to make them more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules. These changes are intended to be stylistic only.
2. Subsection (a) of the restyled rule deletes as unnecessary the reference to the statute and the title of the Plan of Implementation.
3. The revised rule removes the reference to the clerk administering the oath and changed the text of the oath only to reflect that the bailiff shall attend to the "needs" of the jurors, without further specification.