Welcome to jury service in South Dakota. Jury service plays an essential role in our system
of justice -- the right to a trial by a jury made up of persons representing a fair cross-section
of the community. Along with our voting privilege, jury service is one of the most important
duties of citizenship, and one we hope you will accept with pride. It requires no special
skills or legal knowledge, but only that you be honest, impartial, and willing to keep an open mind.
We recognize that jury service sometimes requires sacrifices and may mean
rearranging schedules, canceling appointments, or missing work. Yet serving as a juror is an
important civic and community duty, as well as a privilege and responsibility.
Those who serve as jurors have an opportunity to see the courts in action and to actively
participate in a fundamental democratic process.
We have designed this web site to provide information about all aspects of jury service,
and to help make jury service as convenient, comfortable, informative and rewarding as
possible. The courthouse link on the web site allows jurors the option of completing the
juror questionnaire on line. It also provides juror reporting instructions and dates and
times jurors are to report for duty. If your county is not yet listed on the web site,
please check back often. We will add counties as time permits.
We hope this web site is helpful, and that if you are called that your
term of jury service will be rewarding and satisfying. |