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More Information on Juror Resources

Juror Information

jurors in a courtroomWelcome to Jury Duty for the Multnomah County Circuit Court. Your service as a juror is one of the most important things you will do in participating in our system of government and ensuring justice in our community. We hope to make your experience as rewarding as possible and we thank you for your willingness to take the time to serve your community.
 
Your service as a juror is one of the most important functions of our democracy. Juries must represent a cross section of our community. People are entitled to a jury of their peers. We need people from all walks of life for a jury to work well. This means that citizens are called on to give their time to serve as jurors. You do not need any special knowledge or set of skills to be a juror.
 
We recognize that jury service is an inconvenience for most people and a hardship for many. It requires a sacrifice of time and often a sacrifice of money by jurors, their families, co-workers and employers. This is the price required to preserve justice and the rule of law in our society. On behalf of the people of the State of Oregon and of Multnomah County, we give special thanks to those who serve as jurors despite the sacrifice. Our system of justice simply could not work without you.

On the first day of your jury term, you will attend orientation in the morning. After jury orientation you will wait to be called to a courtroom for jury selection.

If a juror reports for duty and is available to serve but is not selected for a trial, that juror will be released and his or her service will be complete. Once a juror has served as instructed by the court, the juror's obligation is complete for a two-year period.

We thank those who have spent the time -- and completed the hard work -- of serving on a jury.

FAQs

​Regular Jury duty is for two days unless the jury selection takes longer or you are selected for a trial. If you are not selected, your service is complete, and you have no further obligation to the summons. If selected, you will be required to serve until the completion of the trial, or excusal by the judge.  

Grand Jury selection is conducted online rather than in person. The court selects jurors to serve on the Grand Jury and the term of service is one month. The jury selection will be conducted online with all jurors participating remotely by video conferencing. Once a panel is selected, jurors will serve in person at the Multnomah County Central Courthouse.

Special Jury summons orientation usually lasts 1 day unless you are selected. Special Set trials can last 2 or more weeks.  If you are not selected, your service is complete, and you have no further obligation to the summons. If selected, you will be required to serve until the completion of the trial, or excusal by the judge.​

This is for Jurors who have been summoned for Online Jury Selection in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Multnomah County. Jury selection will be conducted online. After jurors have been selected, if you are chosen, you will appear at the courthouse in person for jury service.

If you are a potential juror who received a Jury Summons for an online jury selection, please follow these steps:

  • Please complete the online jury response form here.
    • If you are requesting a deferment or an excusal this can be done using the juror response form. 
    • If you are unable to complete the online response, you can email the court at mul.juryduty@ojd.state.or.us; or call the court 971-274-0575
  • Here are things to consider when responding:
    • You will need a reliable internet connection.
    • You will need a safe, quiet space to participate from for the day.
    • You will appear by video for the jury selection process.
      • You can use a laptop/computer, tablet, iPad, or smart phone.
    • If you do not have any of these things, you can come to the courthouse in person and attend using our technology and space.

If you have already responded you will attend the online jury selection, please follow these steps:

  1. Please view these online documents for instructions on downloading and testing the WebEx application:
    a. Join Webex with your Computer or Smartphone 
    b. Webex Test and Get Ready!
  2. Please watch these two jury orientation videos
    a. Justice For All 
    b. Oregon Implicit Bias Training
  3. Please review this document for what to expect during your online jury selection: Webex | Virtual Jury Service
  4. Here are some helpful tips for attending jury selection on WebEx: Online Jury Selection WebEx Tips
  5. You will receive an email the day before your service date that includes the WebEx link for the online jury selection meeting, your juror panel number, and what time to log into the meeting.
  6. Expect to attend the online jury selection WebEx meeting for 2-4 hours on the days summoned.

 
It is important that you complete the above steps before the date on your summons!

Do not come to the Multnomah County Circuit Courthouse unless directed to by a court clerk.

Thank you for your participation!

​The first thing you should do upon receiving a jury summons is to look at the date of service.

Next, you must respond to the court online using the Jury eResponse to let the court know if you plan to:

  • Show up for jury duty on the date you were summoned, or
  • You want to request a deferral (postponement), or
  • You want to request an excusal.

If you are unable to respond online, you may also call the Jury Coordinator, fax, email, or mail a letter.  Please do not contact the court if you have already responded online.

If you forget to do any of these, but do plan on coming to serve on the date summoned, please show up on the given day, and the court's staff will check you in.

If you are unable to report on your service date, you may request that your service be delayed up to one year from your original service date. The court may allow deferrals (postponements) for good cause.

If you request a deferral to a specific date for your jury service, the service date must be a date for which there is a need for jurors in the same courthouse location. You will be assigned a new date for service as close as possible to the date you have requested.

Requests for a first deferral may be made online through the eResponse portal, or by email, phone, fax or letter. Deferral requests must be received by the court no later than one week before your service date.

To request an additional deferral of your jury service, please contact the Jury Room for assistance. Deferral requests beyond the first one cannot be processed online.​

​If you are 70 years or older, and ask to be excused, the court must excuse you from jury service. If you want to serve as a juror, you may serve.

If you are breast feeding a child, and ask to be excused, the court must excuse you from jury service. If you want to be excused for this reason, you must make the request in writing. If you want to serve as a juror you may serve.

The court may excuse you from jury service if:

  1. Jury service causes you, your family, or your employer undue hardship or extreme inconvenience; or
  2. You are the sole care giver for a child or other dependent, you attend personally to the dependent during the court's normal hours of operation, and you are unable to afford daycare or make other arrangements for the care of the dependent. If you request to be excused under these standards, the court will weigh carefully your individual circumstances against the public's need for jurors.

Requests to be excused may be made online, or by email, phone, fax, or letter.  Your request must be received by the court no later than one week before your service date.

​Downtown Courthouse Parking

No parking is provided. If you drive, parking is your responsibility. We encourage you to take public transportation. Parking downtown is expensive and scarce.

East County Courthouse Parking Facilities

If you drive, parking is your responsibility. We encourage you to take public transportation. There is a parking lot at the East County Courthouse, but the court does not guarantee there will be an available parking spot.

Jurors with Disabilities General Information

  • The court will provide ADA accommodation upon request of jurors with disabilities. If you have a disability, please tell the jury coordinator what accommodations you need, so we can remove any barriers to your effective service as a juror. See our Accessibility page for ADA Coordinator information.
  • Accessibility : Going to Court
  • For parking with a disabled parking permit see Disabled Parking Permits.
  • Any person who has a hearing disability and needs an accommodation in order to participate in jury service may notify the circuit court of the disability and the need for sign interpreters or assistive hearing devices, by checking the boxes on your response card. You can also see section 3 on the juror information sheet. You may also contact the court by telephone, TDD, fax or letter regarding assistance.
  • It is common for people who do not usually consider themselves as having a hearing disability to have trouble hearing everyone clearly in some of the courtrooms. If this happens to you, please tell the judge or clerk. Every courtroom is equipped with assistive listening devices.

Jurors with Disabilities Specific Information about Facilities

  • Both the Multnomah Central Courthouse and the East County Courthouse were designed and constructed to be compliant with state and federal law on accessibility. Jurors with mobility impairments should find both courthouses to be fully accessible.

Individuals with Disabilities that Prevent Effective Service as a Juror

In rare instances, individuals with severe disabilities may receive a juror summons. If the disability is so severe as to render the juror unable to ever serve effectively as a juror, the court does provide a process for such individuals to be permanently excused from jury service. To process a permanent excusal request, our jury coordinator's office must receive a letter from a health care provider who is familiar with the disability or medical condition prior to the date on the summons. The letter must convey that the condition will entirely prevent the individual from ever being able to serve effectively as a juror. Such letters can be provided to our jury coordinator's office using the contact information above.​​

Security at the courthouse is provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office through its Facility Security Unit. There are also Enforcement and Corrections Sheriff Deputies staffing the courthouse for security and protection.

Security equipment in use in the courthouse includes magnetometers (walk-through metal detectors), x-ray scanners, and hand-held metal detectors. If you have a pacemaker, tell the security officer about it before you enter the metal detector. The sheriff's staff does physical pat-downs on persons with pacemakers. The security screening process creates long lines of people waiting to enter the courthouse during peak hours. The courthouse and the Jury room opens at 7:30AM.

The following documents are provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office:​

​

​You can contact the Jury Coordinator for service at either the Downtow​n or East County Courthouses at:

By Email

MUL.JuryDuty@ojd.state.or.us
​

Mail​

Multnomah County Central Courthouse
Jury Coordinator
1200 SW First Avenue
Portland, OR 97204

By Phone

971-274-0575
Phone Hours 8:30am-10:30am and 1:30pm-4:00pm Monday through Friday

By Fax

503-276-0905

For information on the accommodation for disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please see the Accessibility page.

Compensa​tion for jury service is set by the Oregon Legislature. You may also find more information in the OSB Handbook for Jurors provided by the Oregon State bar in multiple languages.

Currently, the juror daily fee rate is:

  • Days 1 and 2, $10 per day;
  • Day 3 and beyond, $25 per day.

Juror travel expense for each day of service will be compensated in one of three ways:

  • (1) take TriMet, and be reimbursed $5.60 for your fare; or
  • (2) $.20 per mile round trip.
  • (3) Drive to a TriMet Park and Ride, you may be reimbursed for your mileage in driving to the Park and Ride, and the expense of the TriMet tickets.

The payment is sent by mail and can take three weeks to reach you. Jurors must complete the juror compensation  online and chose their payment options.

​If you forgot to respond online to the juror summons, you do not need to call the court. You can just appear on your service date.​

Documents

Please bring your juror summons with you to orientation or have your jury duty reminder email with you.​

Foo​d

The court does not pay for lunch. You may bring your lunch or a snack with you. At the Multnomah County Central Courthouse there are refrigerators and microwave ovens in the jury assembly room. There is no cafeteria in the courthouse. There is a snack shop near the Jury Assembly Room with a variety of foods and beverages.

At the East County Courthouse there are refrigerators and microwave ovens. There is no cafeteria at the East County Courthouse.

What ​to wear

Please dress comfortably (suits and ties or dresses are not required), but also have respect for the important role you have as a juror. As a juror you are the judge of the facts. Jurors often spend many hours together in close quarters. Jurors should be respectful of their fellow jurors by reporting for service without strong perfume or cologne.

What to bring

You may bring work or reading material, or a personal electronic device you can listen to with headphones. You may also bring lunch or a snack.

Cell phones and computers​

You may bring your cell phone and laptop computer to the courthouse. They have to be placed on the X-ray scanner when you go through security. The jury assembly room has WiFi available. When you go into a courtroom, make sure your cell phone is turned off (not just silent or vibrate). The judge or their staff will inform you of any rules around technology use in the courtroom.

Juror Videos

Additional Resources