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2024 Third Extraordinary Session

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RS 13:3049

§3049. Cash deposit; bond; duty to attend; compensation; procedure; filing fees

A. Every person selected and summoned shall attend as a juror or talesman punctually and for the time for which he is selected. The district judge may enforce the attendance of any juror by imposing a fine of not more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment in the parish jail for not more than three days, or both, in his discretion, for each violation.

B.(1)(a) The jurors in criminal cases who attend may demand and receive from the parish treasury compensation and an allowance for mileage necessarily traveled going to and from the courthouse to be fixed by the district judges of each judicial district, sitting en banc, subject to approval by the parish governing authority.

(b) The compensation shall be twenty-five dollars for each day of attendance in court, and the mileage allowance shall be not less than sixteen cents per mile nor more than the rate in effect for state officials.

(d) Notice of any intention to change juror compensation by the court shall be given to the district attorney, the parish treasurer, and the clerk of court. No such change shall be effective unless approved by the parish governing authority.

(e)(i) The compensation of jurors in criminal matters provided for by this Subsection shall be paid from costs of court collected from every criminal defendant who is convicted after trial or who pleads guilty or no contest, or who forfeits bond in each district or parish court or in any court exercising juvenile jurisdiction, which shall be assessed as a part of the costs of court to be collected in such cases. The judge or judges for the judicial district wherein the parish, or city of New Orleans is situated shall adopt a schedule of costs that shall be applicable in each criminal case before that court to which such costs are applicable. All of such costs shall be placed, as they are collected, in a special fund that shall be maintained and be administered by the governing authority and the governing authority shall pay out of said fund the compensation for jurors in criminal matters herein provided for.

(ii) The judge or judges shall, as the needs of the special fund require, adjust the schedule of costs to insure that the proceeds are adequate to fully pay the juror compensation herein provided.

(iii)(aa) In the Sixteenth Judicial District, each parish governing authority may adopt an ordinance which provides that surplus monies in the juror compensation fund in their respective parish that exceeds fifty thousand dollars at the end of each calendar year may be used to defray the costs of providing courthouse security and all expenses associated with the trial of a capital case.

(bb) As used in this Item, "special fund" means the special fund provided for in this Subparagraph, and "surplus monies" means the amount of money that is in each special fund at the end of each calendar year and that is in excess of the total amount paid from costs of court collected as provided in Item (i) of this Subparagraph in that calendar year. No money obligated to be paid to any juror shall be considered surplus money pursuant to this Item.

(cc) For the purposes of this Item, the balance of fifty thousand dollars required to be maintained in the juror compensation fund shall mean fifty thousand dollars in unexpended and unencumbered funds, and under no circumstances shall the balance in the fund be reduced below fifty thousand dollars as a result of an expenditure made under the provisions of this Item.

(iv)(aa) In the First Judicial District, the parish governing authority may adopt an ordinance which provides that surplus monies in the juror compensation fund in the parish that exceeds fifty thousand dollars at the end of each calendar year may be used to defray the costs of providing courthouse security and all expenses associated with the trial of a capital case.

(bb) As used in this Item, "special fund" means the special fund provided for in this Subparagraph, and "surplus monies" means the amount of money that is in the special fund at the end of each calendar year and that is in excess of the total amount paid from costs of court collected as provided in Item (i) of this Subparagraph in that calendar year. No money obligated to be paid to any juror shall be considered surplus money pursuant to this Item.

(v)(aa) Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, all surplus monies in the special fund of each parish within the Twenty-First Judicial District at the end of each calendar year shall be transmitted by the governing authority of each parish to the Twenty-First Judicial District Court for deposit into the court's criminal court fund.

(bb) As used in this Item, "special fund" means the special fund provided for in this Subparagraph, and "surplus monies" means the amount of money that is in each special fund at the end of each calendar year and that is in excess of the total amount paid for jury fees in that calendar year. No money obligated to be paid to any juror as a fee or cost for attendance for jury duty shall be considered surplus money pursuant to this Item.

(cc) All surplus monies shall be transferred pursuant to this Item no later than January thirty-first of each calendar year. All surplus monies transferred to the Twenty-First Judicial District Court's criminal court fund may be used for the same purposes as the existing funds in the criminal court fund.

(vi)(aa) In the Thirty-Ninth Judicial District, the parish governing authority may adopt an ordinance which provides that surplus monies in the juror compensation fund that exceed fifty thousand dollars at the end of each calendar year may be used to defray the expenses of the criminal court system. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, all surplus monies in the special fund at the end of each calendar year shall be transmitted by the governing authority to the Thirty-Ninth Judicial District Court for deposit into the court's criminal court fund no later than January thirty-first of each calendar year.

(vii)(aa) Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, surplus monies in the special fund of each parish within the Fourth Judicial District shall upon request, be transmitted by the governing authority of each parish to the Fourth Judicial District Court for deposit into the judicial expense fund.

(bb) As used in this Item, "special fund" means the special fund provided for in this Subparagraph, and "surplus monies" means the amount of money that is in each special fund at the end of each calendar year and that is in excess of the total amount paid for jury fees and costs during that calendar year. No money obligated to be paid to any juror as a fee or cost for attendance for jury duty shall be considered surplus money pursuant to this Item.

(cc) Surplus monies transferred to the Fourth Judicial District Court's judicial expense fund shall be transferred at any time upon request by the court, and may be used for the same purposes as the existing funds in the judicial expense fund.

(viii) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any surplus monies in the special fund of DeSoto Parish within the Forty-Second Judicial District may be transferred to the criminal court fund on an as-needed basis upon the motion of the district attorney and the order of judges sitting en banc.

(2)(a) Except as provided by special law, the jurors in civil cases who attend may demand and receive fifty dollars for each day of attendance in court and an amount equal to the rate in effect for state officials for each mile necessarily traveled in going to and returning from the courthouse. Only one charge shall be made for mileage each way. At the time of posting bond, the party praying for the jury shall pay to the clerk of court the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars as jury filing fees. In addition, prior to the commencement of the trial, the party praying for the jury shall post a bond pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Article 1734 or deposit the amount ordered by the court pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Article 1734.1. If the trial exceeds the estimated number of days, the party praying for the jury shall post an additional bond or make an additional deposit as ordered by the court. However, no party praying for a jury trial under the provisions of this Subsection shall be required to pay any costs or advance deposit imposed under the provisions of this Subsection if such has been waived or an order is rendered, pursuant to Chapter 5 of Title I of Book IX of the Code of Civil Procedure, permitting the applicant to litigate or continue to litigate without payment of such costs or furnishing security therefor.

(b) The clerk of court shall collect the deposits required herein. This amount shall be expended solely for the expenses of civil juries.

(c) The judge before whom a case is to be tried by a jury shall have the right to waive the depositing of such security for jury costs entirely or in part, upon proper showing to his satisfaction that the party praying for such trial by jury is financially unable to deposit such sum. The judge may also determine whether such deposit for jury costs shall be deposited in whole prior to the commencement of trial or by partial payments at intervals during the progress of the trial should such party be financially able to provide such deposit.

(d) Any deposit made as herein provided shall be returned to the party making such deposit and any bond filed shall be cancelled in the event that the matter in which trial by jury has been requested has been tried, settled, determined, or otherwise disposed of for any reason, without having been tried by a jury.

(e) Any juror who is called and actually reports for jury service shall be paid his compensation, mileage allowance, and other costs, by the clerk of court out of the funds on deposit upon completion of his duty to attend. If the jury costs exceed the amount on deposit, or if the judge has waived the deposit, or if a bond was posted, the deficiency shall be paid out of any judicial expense fund or, in parishes comprising the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Judicial Districts and in parishes where no judicial expense fund exists, the deficiency shall be paid out of the parish treasury. The administrator of the judicial expense fund, the clerk of court or the parish shall have the right to seek recovery of such amount immediately from the party or parties cast in judgment, or from the surety on any bond furnished for jury costs, notwithstanding that the judgment may be suspensively appealed or that the bond was furnished by a party not cast in judgment. With respect to those courts in the parish of Orleans, such recovery shall only be done within one year after the closure date of the case.

C. Grand jurors in criminal cases are entitled to the same mileage and compensation for each day's attendance at sessions of the grand jury as that allowed petit jurors in the same judicial district. The several clerks of the district court, upon demand by each such juror at the close of his term of service, shall issue to him a certificate of attendance, countersigned by the district judge, for the amount to which he is entitled. The district judge may direct the payment of the accrued mileage and per diem of grand jurors at any time during the term of service as grand jurors.

Acts 1950, No. 133, §1; Acts 1956, No. 97, §1; Acts 1960, No. 26, §1; Acts 1979, No. 632, §1; Acts 1984, No. 441, §1; Acts 1987, No. 937, §1; Acts 1988, No. 431, §1; Acts 1989, No. 307, §3; Acts 1990, No. 327, §1; Acts 1991, No. 128, §1; Acts 2003, No. 1031, §1; Acts 2004, No. 840, §1; Acts 2005, No. 302, §1; Acts 2012, No. 722, §1; Acts 2014, No. 30, §1; Acts 2016, No. 233, §1; Acts 2018, No. 268, §1; Acts 2020, No. 237, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2021; Acts 2022, No. 19, §1.