A. In each action in the magistrate court in which a jury is summoned, persons summoned for jury service and jurors shall be compensated for their time in attendance and service at the highest prevailing minimum-wage rate.
B. Those persons shall also be reimbursed for travel in excess of forty miles round trip from their place of actual residence to the court, when their attendance is ordered, at the rate allowed public officers and employees per mile of necessary travel.
C. Those costs shall be charged against the party requesting the jury in a civil action, though no costs shall be charged against the state. All costs collected by the magistrate under this section shall be remitted to the administrative office of the courts, and all jurors shall be paid by the state treasurer in the same manner as other magistrate court expenses are paid."
History: 1978 Comp., § 35-8-6, enacted by Laws 1991, ch. 82, § 13; 2017, ch. 61, § 1.
ANNOTATIONSCompiler's notes. — Laws 1991, ch. 82, § 13 enacted this section as 35-8-6 NMSA 1978, but, since that code number had already been assigned, this section was compiled as 35-8-7 NMSA 1978.
The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, reduced mileage reimbursement for certain jurors, allowing a juror to be reimbursed for mileage only if the juror travels more than forty miles round trip from the juror's residence to the courthouse; in Subsection A, after "their time in", deleted "travel"; and in Subsection B, after "reimbursed for travel", added "in excess of forty miles round trip", after "residence to the court", added "when their attendance is ordered", after "necessary travel", deleted "pursuant to the Per Diem and Mileage Act if", and deleted Paragraphs B(1) and B(2).