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Juror FAQs



People sitting in a juror box.
 Telephone

Jury Staff: 971-274-0575
ECC Recording Only: 971-274-0704
Fax: 503-276-0905

 Phone Hours
View Court Hours  

 Multnomah County Central Courthouse

1200 SW First Avenue, 3rd Floor
Portland, Oregon 97204
 Map

 East County Courthouse
18480 SE Stark Street
Portland, Oregon 97233
 Map

​Jury duty is for two days, unless the jury selection takes longer or if 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 excused by the judge. On some days the Court selects jurors for Grand Jury service. Grand Jury selection is conducted Online rather than in person. The court will be selecting jurors to serve on the Grand Jury for which the term of service is one month. The jury selection will be conducted Online with all jurors participating remotely by Online video conferencing. Once a panel is selected, jurors will serve in person at the Multnomah County Central Courthouse.
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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 using the online response, please mail in the questionnaire that was included with your summons; or 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 fill out a quick survey here to set your jury compensation. You will need your Jury Service number from your summons. Ex. 1234-ABCDE
  2. 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!
  3. Please watch these two jury orientation videos
    a. Justice For All ​
    b. Oregon Implicit Bias Training​
  4. Please review this document for what to expect during your online jury selection: Webex | Virtual Jury Service​
  5. Here are some helpful tips for attending jury selection on WebEx: Online Jury Selection WebEx Tips
  6. 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.
  7. 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 Juror summons is to look at the date of service.

Next, you must respond to the court, Online, using the Juror Response Form 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 can contact the court with your response by mailing in the self-addressed, postage paid postcard you received with your jury summons. You may also call the Jury Coordinator, fax, email, or mail a letter.  Please do not mail the post card 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 to start no later than 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 certain for your jury service, the service date must be to a date for which there is a need for jurors in the courthouse to which you have been summoned. 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 by email, phone, fax or letter and must be received by the court no later than one week before your service date.

To request a second deferral of your jury service you must show good cause for the second postponement, and you must provide a list of not less than 10 dates on which you would be able to serve your jury duty.​

​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 a woman 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 by email, phone, fax, and 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.
  • 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 as an insert by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office along with your Jury Duty summons:​



Downtown Courthouse Security
East County Courthouse Security​

You can contact the Jury Coordinator for service at either the Downtown or East County Courthouses at:

By Email
Mul.JuryDuty@ojd.state.or.us​​
For information on the accommodation for disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please see the Accessibility page.

​By Mail or in person 
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


  • Compensation 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 the following:

  • 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 $5.00 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 turn in a completed juror compensation form on the first day in order to be compensated for their service.

​Schedule

At the downtown courthouse the jury room opens at 7:30am, you must be checked in prior to 8:00am.

The East County Courthouse opens at 8:00am, you must be checked in prior to 8:15 am.

There will be an orientation on your first day. Trials may start at different times throughout the day. Most trials go from 9:00 to 5:00 with short rest breaks and a lunch break. The schedule for a trial, including breaks, will be set by the judge. The schedule for breaks in the jury assembly room will be announced by the staff. You probably won’t have time to move your car, so if you drive, park where you can leave your car all day.

​If you forgot to mail in your juror response postcard, you do not need to call the court. You can just appear on your service date.

Documents

Most importantly you will need to bring the Compensation form from the Jury Summons we sent to you in the mail. We use this form to determine how to pay you and to complete your service. Do not worry if you forget it, we will have you fill one out upon your arrival the day of service.

Food

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. ​

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