756.04 Prospective juror lists; number; how compiled.
(2) Jurors for all circuit courts shall be selected under ss. 756.04 to 756.07, subject to all of the following:
(a) Each year, the office of the director of state courts shall compile a master list of potential jurors for use by the circuit courts of each county during the coming year. The master list shall be compiled as described in this section.
(b) Each year, on a date agreed upon with the office of the director of state courts, the department of transportation shall compile a list that includes the name, address, county, date of birth, race, gender, identification number and renewal date of each person residing in the state who is licensed as a motor vehicle operator under ch. 343 or who has received an identification card under s. 343.50 or 343.51, and social security number, as permitted by law and any record sharing agreement between the department of transportation and the office of the director of state courts. The office of the director of state courts shall establish the format of the list by agreement with the department of transportation. The department of transportation shall transmit the list to the office of the director of state courts, without charge.
(c) The office of the director of state courts may use any of the following lists in addition to the list provided by the department of transportation under par. (b) in order to create the master list of potential jurors compiled under par. (a). The director may each year request any of the following information from the custodians of that information:
1. A list of registered voters from the elections commission.
2. A list of all natural persons that may have filed a state income tax return with the department of revenue.
3. A list of child support payors and payees from the department of workforce development.
4. A list of recipients of unemployment compensation from the department of workforce development.
5. A list of residents of this state issued approvals or licenses from the department of natural resources.
(d) If the records listed in par. (c) are requested, the director of state courts may enter into a record sharing agreement with the custodian of the records. Any record sharing agreement shall be in writing for a prescribed period of time and shall identify data that would allow for a match of personally identifiable information on the list maintained by that custodian with personally identifiable information in the master list of potential jurors to the extent required to identify duplicate names and to determine current addresses of prospective jurors. Any list provided under par. (c) shall contain no data other than the data provided in par. (b). The agreement shall establish the format of the list and date of transmission of the list.
(e) The lists of prospective jurors provided to the clerks of circuit courts shall contain only the name, address, gender, date of birth, race and county of residence of each prospective juror.
(f) All social security numbers shall be kept secure from unauthorized access and shall not be provided to the clerk of circuit court and shall not be open to the public.
(3m) From the statewide master list of potential jurors created under sub. (2), the office of the director of state courts shall provide each clerk of circuit court with a list of prospective jurors residing in the clerk's county to be used during the following jury year. The list for each county shall be created by randomly selecting from the master list of potential jurors the number of names of residents of the county requested by the clerk of circuit court for that year. The office of the director of state courts shall transmit the list of prospective jurors to each clerk, with a certification that the list was prepared in strict conformity with this chapter.
(6)
(am) Using the list of prospective jurors provided by the office of the director of state courts under sub. (3m), the clerk of circuit court shall mail to every juror to be summoned, separately or together with the summons under s. 756.05, a juror qualification form requesting all of the following:
1. Information necessary to determine if the person is qualified to serve as a juror in that circuit court.
2. The race of the prospective juror.
3. The prospective juror's declaration that the responses are true to the best of his or her knowledge.
(bm) The juror qualification form shall be accompanied by instructions requiring the person to complete and return the form to the clerk of circuit court within 10 days of receiving it. The form shall include a notice that, if the person willfully misrepresents a material fact or willfully fails to return the completed form within 10 days after its receipt, or willfully fails to attend court without being excused by the court, the person may be sanctioned not more than $500.
(cm) The juror qualification form mailed to prospective jurors under par. (am) may be supplemented to request other information that the court requires to manage the jury system in an efficient manner, including information that may be sought during voir dire examination.
(dm) If a prospective juror is unable to fill out the juror qualification form mailed to the prospective juror under par. (am) and (cm), another person may complete the form and shall indicate why the person has done so. If it appears that there is an omission, ambiguity or error in a returned form, the clerk of circuit court shall return the form to the person with instructions to correct and return the form to the clerk of circuit court within 10 days after receiving the form.
(9)
(a) During each year, the clerk of circuit court shall provide the court with a sufficient number of names of prospective jurors to meet the needs of the court. To create a jury array, the clerk of circuit court shall strike from the list provided by the office of the director of state courts under sub. (3m) the name of any person whose returned juror qualification form shows that the person is not qualified for jury service under s. 756.02.
(b) The clerk of circuit court shall keep for public inspection a certified copy of the jury array under par. (a), indicating the city, village, or town of residence of each prospective qualified juror. Each year, the clerk of circuit court shall certify compliance with all provisions of this chapter that fall under the authority of the clerk of circuit court.
(c) Except for those individual jurors whose service has been deferred or postponed to a time that falls within a new jury year, names of prospective jurors not qualified or not summoned at the end of a jury year shall be discarded.
(10) The clerk of circuit court shall keep computerized juror data secure against unauthorized access.
(11)
(a) All completed juror qualification forms mailed to prospective jurors under sub. (6) (am) and supplemental information obtained under sub. (6) (cm) shall be confidential and shall be released only upon order of the court upon a showing of good cause. However, the completed juror qualification forms and supplemental information of jurors in the jury venire or jury panel when the trial is scheduled shall be made available to counsel and parties to the litigation upon request without a circuit court order. This information shall remain confidential and shall be used only for the purpose of the trial or any appeal. Counsel and parties may not retain copies of the qualification forms or supplemental information obtained under sub. (6) (am) and sub. (6) (cm).
(b) A list of the names and city, village, or town of residence of each juror sworn to hear a trial shall be retained in the court file.
History: 1973 c. 267, 272; 1977 c. 187 ss. 95, 135; 1977 c. 273, 318; 1977 c. 447 ss. 185, 210; 1977 c. 449; Stats. 1977 s. 756.04; 1979 c. 128; 1987 a. 151; 1991 a. 271; 1995 a. 27; Sup. Ct. Order No. 96-08, 207 Wis. 2d xv (1997); 2003 a. 214; Sup. Ct. Order No. 08-01, 2008 WI 104, 307 Wis. 2d xxxv; 2015 a. 118.
NOTE: 2003 Wis. Act 214 contains explanatory notes.
Judicial Council Note, 1996: This section, based on prior s. 756.04, implements ABA Standard 2, recommending regularly maintained source lists as inclusive as feasible of the adult population of the district. [Re SCO No. 96-08, eff. 7-1-97]
An ability to understand the English language is necessary in order to satisfy the statutory requirements of ss. 756.02 and 756.04. If a juror cannot meet the statutory requirements, then the entire trial process may be nothing more than an “exercise in futility." A defendant was prejudiced when a juror was allowed to serve who was not qualified under the statutes and did not have a sufficient understanding of English to meaningfully participate in the trial process. State v. Carlson, 2003 WI 40, 261 Wis. 2d 97, 661 N.W.2d 51, 01-1136.
Wisconsin law does not permit a court to deliberately summon a greater number of potential jurors from some geographic areas than from others in an attempt to ensure that the racial and ethnic makeup of juries better reflects a representative cross-section of the community served by the court. Wisconsin law requires that all qualified persons have an equal opportunity to be randomly summoned for jury service. It does not permit a jury selection system that gives some persons greater, some lesser, opportunities to be summoned, depending on the area of the community where they live. OAG 3-08.