Pennsylvania Code
Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

• No statutes or acts will be found at this website.

The Pennsylvania Bulletin website includes the following: Rulemakings by State agencies; Proposed Rulemakings by State agencies; State agency notices; the Governor’s Proclamations and Executive Orders; Actions by the General Assembly; and Statewide and local court rules.

PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 99-854

THE COURTS

PART I.  GENERAL

[234 PA. CODE CH. 1100]

Rule 1104, Juror Qualification Form and Challenge to the Array; No. 241; Criminal Procedural Rules Doc. No. 2

[29 Pa.B. 2777]

   The Criminal Procedural Rules Committee has prepared a Final Report explaining the May 14, 1999 amendments to Rule of Criminal Procedure 1104 (Juror Qualifcation Form, Lists of Trial Jurors, and Challenge to the Array) that make it clear that the rule provides for two distinct, but related, concepts concerning the selection of jurors for service: (1) the procedures for the officials designated by law to select persons for jury service; and (2) the procedures to challenge the array of jurors. The Final Report follows the Court's Order.

Order

Per Curiam:

   Now, this 14th day of May 1999, upon the recommendation of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee; this Recommendation having been submitted without publication pursuant to Pa.R.J.A. 103(a)(3), with a Final Report to be published with this Order;

   It Is Ordered pursuant to Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania that Rule 1104 is amended in the following form.

   This Order shall be processed in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. 103 (b), and shall be effective July 1, 1999.

Annex A

TITLE 234.  RULES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

PART I.  GENERAL

CHAPTER 1100.  TRIAL

Rule 1104.  Juror Qualification Form, Lists of Tiral Jurors, and Challenge to the Array.

   (A)  Juror Qualification Form and Lists of Trial Jurors.

   The officials designated by law to select persons for jury service shall:

   (1)  devise, distribute, and maintain juror qualification forms as provided by law;

   (2)  prepare, publish, and post lists of the names of persons to serve as jurors as provided by law; and

   (3)  upon the request of the attorney for the Commonwealth or the defendant's attorney, furnish a list containing the names of prospective jurors summoned to try the case together with copies of the juror qualification forms returned by such prospective jurors.

   (B)  Challenge to the Array.

   (1)  Unless opportunity did not exist prior thereto, a challenge to the array shall be made not later than 5 days before the first day of the week the case is listed for trial of criminal cases for which the jurors have been summoned and not thereafter, and shall be in writing, specifying the facts constituting the ground for the challenge.

   [(C)] (2)  A challenge to the array may be made only on the ground that the jurors were not selected, drawn, or summoned substantially in accordance with law.

   Official Note:  Adopted January 24, 1968, effective August 1, 1968; Comment revised January 28, 1983, effective July 1, 1983; amended September 15, 1993, effective January 1, 1994; the September 15, 1993 amendments suspended December 17, 1993 until further Order of the Court; the September 15, 1993 Order amending Rule 1104 is superseded by the September 18, 1998 Order, and Rule 1104 is amended September 18, 1998, effective July 1, 1999; amended May 14, 1999, effective July 1, 1999.

Comment

   The qualification, selection, and summoning of prospective jurors, as well as related matters, are generally dealt with in Chapter 45, Subchapters A--C, of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 4501--4503, 4521--4526, 4531--4532. ''Law'' as used in paragraph [(C)] (B)(2) of this rule is intended to include these Judicial Code provisions. However, paragraphs (B)(1) and [(C)] (2) of this rule are intended to supersede the procedures set forth in Section 4526(a) of the Judicial Code and that provision is suspended as being inconsistent with this rule. See PA. CONST. art. V., § 10; 42 Pa.C.S. § 4526(c). Sections 4526(b) and (d)--(f) of the Judicial Code are not affected by this rule.

*      *      *      *      *

Committee Explanatory Reports:

   Report explaining the September 15, 1993 amendments published at 21 Pa.B. 150 (January 12, 1991). Order suspending, until further Order of the Court, the September 15, 1993 amendments concerning juror information questionnaires published at 24 Pa.B. 333 (January 15, 1994).

   Final Report explaining the September 18, 1998 amendments concerning juror information questionnaires published with the Court's Order at 28 Pa.B. 4887 (October 3, 1998).

   Final Report explaining the May 14, 1999 amendments placing titles in paragraphs (A) and (B) published with the Court's Order at 29 Pa.B. 2778 (May 29, 1999).

FINAL REPORT1

Amendments to Pa.R.Crim.P. 1104

EDITORIAL CHANGES AND TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

   On May 14, 1999, upon the recommendation of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee, the Supreme Court adopted changes to Pa.R.Crim.P. 1104 (Juror Qualification Form, Lists of Trial Jurors, and Challenge to the Array), effective July 1, 1999.2 These changes make it clear that the rule provides for two distinct, but related, concepts concerning the selection of jurors for service: (1) the procedures for the officials designated by law to select persons for jury service; and (2) the procedures to challenge the array of jurors.

   Rule 1104 provides the procedures for selecting persons for jury service and challenging the array. Following the adoption on September 18, 1998 of the amendments to Rule 1104 concerning juror qualification forms, the Committee has become aware of some confusion concerning the construction of the rule. The Committee attributed the confusion to the format of the rule, and agreed that the simplest resolution would be to insert captions into the rule thereby dividing the rule into two sections. Accordingly, the rule has been modified so that paragraph (A) is titled, ''Juror Qualification Forms and Lists of Trial Jurors'' and new paragraph (B) is titled ''Challenge to the Array,'' and applies to present paragraphs (b) and (c), now paragraphs (B)(1) and (B)(2).

______

1 The Committee's Final Reports should not be confused with the official Committee Comments to the rules. Also note that the Supreme Court does not adopt the Committee's Comments or the contents of the Committee's explanatory Final Reports.

2 These editorial changes and technical corrections are directly related to the Court's September 18, 1998 Order amending, inter alia, Rule 1104, which will become effective on July 1, 1999, and are, therefore, effective simultaneously.

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 99-854. Filed for public inspection May 28, 1999, 9:00 a.m.]


No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.