Opinion ID: 2615180
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: improper excusing issue

Text: The defendant argues that the court administrator excused prospective grand jurors from the grand jury panel without the authority of the court and for reasons not allowed by statute and consequently violated the defendant's constitutional rights. The record is not a model of clarity on this point, however there is adequate support to rebut the defendant's argument. ORS 10.050(1) states that [t]he court shall excuse a person from acting as a juror upon a showing of undue hardship or extreme inconvenience to the person   . Although a judge did not personally excuse each juror, the facts indicate that the court administrator excused prospective jurors and did so pursuant to delegated authority. The extent to which the circuit court judges were consulted by the administrator's office during the initial panel selection process is disputed by the parties, although it appears the administrator handled most of the determinations of whether particular jurors were required to report for service, and there is some evidence that court administrative personnel excused some prospective jurors for nonstatutorily defined reasons. There is no showing such exclusions were based on criteria reflecting either a discriminatory intent or effect. In these circumstances, we cannot say any errors contravened the principle of objectivity or random selection or otherwise violated the constitution. The record indicates the court staff's actions were consistently monitored, controlled or ratified by one or more circuit court judges. [18]