Art. 403.1 Disqualification for undue hardship

If someone serving on a grand jury runs into a serious problem that makes it too hard for them to keep serving, the judge who oversaw picking the grand jury can excuse them from duty. This might happen if a juror has a major personal, health, or family situation that gets in the way of their ability to serve.

When a juror gets excused this way, they need to be replaced. The court fills the empty spot using the same process it originally used to pick grand jurors when there's a vacancy. This keeps the grand jury at full strength so it can keep doing its job.

This rule exists to balance two things: making sure grand jurors aren't stuck serving through genuine hardship, and making sure the grand jury still has enough people to function properly. The judge has to actually find that the hardship is real before excusing someone, so this isn't just an automatic excuse.