Automated process for conducting jury voir dire

• US 6,640,213 B1
• Filed: 12/13/1999
• Issued: 10/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Jurysignup Com Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Jurysignup Com Incorporated
• Inventors: Carp, Tenley Anne, Davidov, Natalya B., Friedman, Milton B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Van Doren, Beth
• Application Number:
  US09/459,351
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/9, 705/8
• US Class Current: 705/7.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

An automated system and process for conducting jury voir dire comprising an automated juror qualification test and assignment of report date and summons issuance, an automated process for requesting, reviewing and approving/rejecting requests for exemption from jury service and requests for deferral of the report date, and an automated juror suitability test.

Claims

1. An automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court comprising the steps of:

a. forming a master database of names of citizens eligible to serve as jurors from a set of all citizens residing within the trial court'"'"'s jurisdiction, said master database being stored in a computer system of said trial court;

b. forming a master jury wheel from the master database by using a random selection procedure to select a smaller set of names of citizens, said smaller set of names of citizens representative of a fair demographic cross section of the set of all citizens residing within the trial court'"'"'s jurisdiction, said master jury wheel being stored in said computer system of said trial court;

c. randomly selecting a plurality of prospective jurors from the plurality of names of citizens from the master jury wheel and storing data in a database for a jury voir dire system relating to a name, a social security number, a first juror identification number and a court identification number for each one of the plurality of prospective jurors;

d. transmitting an initial notification of a potential jury service to each one of the plurality of prospective jurors, wherein for each one of said plurality of prospective jurors said initial notification includes said first juror identification number, the court identification number and a predetermined URL address identifying a location of a host server for accessing a jury voir dire system via a browser of a computer used by one of said plurality of prospective jurors;

e. transmitting a first access request, said first juror identification number, the court identification number and a social security number for said one prospective juror from the computer of the one prospective juror over a general purpose computer network to the host server;

f. comparing a first pair of numbers including the transmitted first juror identification number to said stored first juror identification number for said one prospective juror in said second database to determine whether said transmitted first juror identification number matches said stored first juror identification number and comparing a second pair of numbers including said transmitted social security number to said stored social security number for said one prospective juror in said second database to determine whether said transmitted social security number matches said stored social security number;

g. granting access to a secure portion of said jury voir dire system if said first pair of numbers is a match and said second pair of numbers is a match;

h. serving a web page to said computer for said one prospective juror representing a juror questionnaire form, said juror questionnaire form having a plurality of questions designed to determine whether said one prospective juror is qualified to sit as a juror;

i. completing said juror questionnaire by accepting responses to each of said plurality of questions and transmitting the completed juror questionnaire form from said computer of said prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server;

j. comparing the responses for each of said plurality of questions on said transmitted, completed juror questionnaire form to a stored standard set of responses for each of said plurality of questions, said stored standard set of responses representative of responses for a qualified juror;

k. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to each one of said prospective jurors indicating whether said one of said prospective jurors is qualified based on the results of the comparing step;

l. transmitting a summons for jury service to each one of said plurality of prospective jurors that is qualified, said summons including an assigned report date for said qualified prospective juror to report to the trial court for jury service;

m. querying said qualified prospective juror, in response to an inputted second access request and said first juror identification number from said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server, whether said qualified prospective juror will accept the assigned report date, request a deferral of the assigned report date or request an exemption from the jury service;

n. serving a Request for Deferral form to the computer of said qualified prospective juror from the host server over said general purpose computer network in response to a request for deferral response to said query from said qualified prospective juror, or serving a Request for Exemption form to the computer of said qualified prospective juror from the host server over said general purpose computer network in response to a request for exemption response to said query from said qualified prospective juror;

o. completing and transmitting the completed Request for Deferral form from the computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server in response to a served Request for Deferral form, said completed, transmitted Request for Deferral form including a reason given by said qualified prospective juror for requesting the deferral of the report date;

p. completing and transmitting the completed Request for Exemption form from the computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server in response to a served Request for Exemption form, said completed, transmitted Request for Exemption form including a reason given by said qualified prospective juror for requesting said exemption from jury service;

q. comparing the completed, transmitted Request for Deferral form and the given reason for requesting the deferral to a plurality of predetermined acceptable reasons for deferral of the report date and, if said given reason matches with one of the plurality of predetermined acceptable reasons, transmitting a first approval notification to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network from said host server, said first approval notification informing said qualified prospective juror that the request for deferral was approved and that a new report date will be assigned;

r. comparing the completed, transmitted Request for Exemption form and the given reason for requesting the exemption to a plurality of predetermined acceptable reasons for exemption from jury service and, if said given reason matches with one of the plurality of acceptable reasons for exemption, transmitting a second approval notification to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network from said host server, said second approval notification informing said qualified prospective juror that the request for exemption was approved and that said qualified prospective juror is exempted from jury service;

s. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to each one of said qualified prospective jurors with data indicative of the response of said one qualified prospective juror to said query of the querying step and with data indicative of whether a request for deferral or a request for exemption was approved;

t. transmitting a second assigned report date from said host server to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network if a request for deferral was approved for said qualified prospective juror;

u. transmitting on the report date a second access request and said first juror identification number and said social security number for said qualified prospective juror from the computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server;

v. repeating the comparing step and the granting access steps;

w. outputting, in response to the second access request following the granting access step, a second juror identification number for said qualified prospective juror to the computer of the qualified prospective juror;

x. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to said qualified prospective juror indicating that said qualified prospective juror reported to the court on the assigned report date;

y. serving a Juror Suitability Test form to the computer of said qualified prospective juror from the host server over said general purpose computer network, said Juror Suitability Test form including a plurality of questions designed to determine at least one of a plurality of trial types for which said qualified prospective juror is suitable to sit as a juror;

z. completing said Juror Suitability Test form by accepting responses to each of said plurality of questions and transmitting the completed Juror Suitability Test form from the computer of said qualified prospective juror to said host server over said general purpose computer network; and

aa. comparing the responses for each of said plurality of questions on said transmitted, completed Juror Suitability Test form to a stored standard set of responses for each of said plurality of questions and assigning a group category to said qualified prospective juror, said assigned group category indicative of at least one of a plurality of trial types for which said qualified prospective juror is suitable to sit as a juror.

2. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

bb. exiting from said jury voir dire system following said comparing the responses step if the responses for one of said plurality of questions on said transmitted, completed juror questionnaire form does not match the response to said one of said plurality of questions in said stored standard set of responses; and

cc. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to said one prospective juror indicating that said one prospective juror is not qualified.

3. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

bb. exiting from said jury voir dire system following said comparing the completed, transmitted Request for Exemption form step if the given reason for requesting the exemption matches with one of said acceptable reasons for exemption from jury service; and

cc. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to said one prospective juror indicating that said one prospective juror was exempted from jury service.

4. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 wherein the master database is compiled from a listing of registered voters.

5. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 wherein the master database is compiled from a listing of persons holding driver'"'"'s licenses.

6. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 wherein the master database is compiled from a listing of persons filing tax returns.

7. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 wherein the master database is compiled from one or more listings from a plurality of listings including a listing of registered voters, a listing of persons holding driver'"'"'s licenses, and a listing of persons filing tax returns.

8. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 wherein the master database is compiled from one or more listings from a plurality of listings including a listing of registered voters, a listing of persons holding driver'"'"'s licenses, and a listing of persons filing tax returns.

9. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

bb. transmitting a denial notification to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network from said host server following said comparing the completed, transmitted Request for Deferral form step if the given reason for requesting the deferral does not match with at least one of the plurality of predetermined acceptable reasons; and

cc. informing the qualified prospective juror to report to court on the report date.

10. The automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of:

bb. transmitting a denial notification to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network from said host server following said comparing the completed, transmitted Request for Exemption form step if the given reason for requesting the exemption does not match with at least one of the plurality of acceptable reasons for exemption.

11. An automated process for conducting jury voir dire for a trial court comprising the steps of:

a. forming a master database of names of citizens eligible to serve as jurors from a set of all citizens residing within the trial court'"'"'s jurisdiction, said master database being stored in a computer system of said trial court;

b. forming a master jury wheel from the master database by using a random selection procedure to select a smaller set of names of citizens, said smaller set of names of citizens representative of a fair demographic cross section of the set of all citizens residing within the trial court'"'"'s jurisdiction, said master jury wheel being stored in said computer system of said trial court;

c. randomly selecting a plurality of prospective jurors from the plurality of names of citizens from the master jury wheel and storing data in a database for a jury voir dire system relating to a name, a social security number, a first juror identification number and a court identification number for each one of the plurality of prospective jurors;

d. transmitting an initial notification of a potential jury service to each one of the plurality of prospective jurors, wherein for each one of said plurality of prospective jurors said initial notification includes said first juror identification number, the court identification number and a predetermined URL address identifying a location of a host server for accessing a jury voir dire system via a browser of a computer used by one of said plurality of prospective jurors;

e. transmitting a first access request, said first juror identification number, the court identification number and a social security number for said one prospective juror from the computer of the one prospective juror over a general purpose computer network to the host server;

f. comparing a first pair of numbers including the transmitted first juror identification number to said stored first juror identification number for said one prospective juror in said second database to determine whether said transmitted first juror identification number matches said stored first juror identification number and comparing a second pair of numbers including said transmitted social security number to said stored social security number for said one prospective juror in said second database to determine whether said transmitted social security number matches said stored social security number;

g. granting access to a secure portion of said jury voir dire system if said first pair of numbers is a match and said second pair of numbers is a match;

h. serving a web page to said computer for said one prospective juror representing a juror questionnaire form, said juror questionnaire form having a plurality of questions designed to determine whether said one prospective juror is qualified to sit as a juror;

i. completing said juror questionnaire by accepting responses to each of said plurality of questions and transmitting the completed juror questionnaire form from said computer of said prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server;

j. comparing the responses for each of said plurality of questions on said transmitted, completed juror questionnaire form to a stored standard set of responses for each of said plurality of questions, said stored standard set of responses representative of responses for a qualified juror;

k. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to each one of said prospective jurors indicating whether said one of said prospective jurors is qualified based on the results of the comparing step;

l. transmitting a summons for jury service to each one of said plurality of prospective jurors that is qualified, said summons including an assigned report date for said qualified prospective juror to report to the trial court for jury service;

m. querying said qualified prospective juror, in response to an inputted second access request and said first juror identification number from said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server, whether said qualified prospective juror will accept the assigned report date, request a deferral of the assigned report date or request an exemption from the jury service;

n. serving a Request for Deferral form to the computer of said qualified prospective juror from the host server over said general purpose computer network in response to a request for deferral response to said query from said qualified prospective juror, or serving a Request for Exemption form to the computer of said qualified prospective juror from the host server over said general purpose computer network in response to a request for exemption response to said query from said qualified prospective juror;

o. completing and transmitting the completed Request for Deferral form from the computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server in response to a served Request for Deferral form, said completed, transmitted Request for Deferral form including a reason given by said qualified prospective juror for requesting the deferral of the report date;

p. completing and transmitting the completed Request for Exemption form from the computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server in response to a served Request for Exemption form, said completed, transmitted Request for Exemption form including a reason given by said qualified prospective juror for requesting said exemption from jury service;

q. comparing the completed, transmitted Request for Deferral form and the given reason for requesting the deferral to a plurality of predetermined acceptable reasons for deferral of the report date and, if said given reason matches with one of the plurality of predetermined acceptable reasons, transmitting a first approval notification to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network from said host server, said first approval notification informing said qualified prospective juror that the request for deferral was approved and that a new report date will be assigned;

r. comparing the completed, transmitted Request for Exemption form and the given reason for requesting the exemption to a plurality of predetermined acceptable reasons for exemption from jury service and, if said given reason matches with one of the plurality of acceptable reasons for exemption, transmitting a second approval notification to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network from said host server, said second approval notification informing said qualified prospective juror that the request for exemption was approved and that said qualified prospective juror is exempted from jury service;

s. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to each one of said qualified prospective jurors with data indicative of the response of said one qualified prospective juror to said query of the querying step and with data indicative of whether a request for deferral or a request for exemption was approved;

t. transmitting a second assigned report date from said host server to said computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network if a request for deferral was approved for said qualified prospective juror;

u. transmitting on the report date a second access request and said first juror identification number and said social security number for said qualified prospective juror from the computer of said qualified prospective juror over said general purpose computer network to said host server;

v. repeating the comparing step and the granting access steps;

w. outputting, in response to the second access request following the granting access step, a second juror identification number for said qualified prospective juror to the computer of the qualified prospective juror;

x. updating the data stored in said first database and said second database relating to said qualified prospective juror indicating that said qualified prospective juror reported to the court on the assigned report date;

y. serving a Juror Suitability Test form to the computer of said qualified prospective juror from the host server over said general purpose computer network, said Juror Suitability Test form including a plurality of questions designed to determine at least one of a plurality of trial types for which said qualified prospective juror is not suitable to sit as a juror;

z. completing said Juror Suitability Test form by accepting responses to each of said plurality of questions and transmitting the completed Juror Suitability Test form from the computer of said qualified prospective juror to said host server over said general purpose computer network; and

aa. comparing the responses for each of said plurality of questions on said transmitted, completed Juror Suitability Test form to a stored standard set of responses for each of said plurality of questions and assigning a group category to said qualified prospective juror, said assigned group category indicative of at least one of a plurality of trial types for which said qualified prospective juror is not suitable to sit as a juror.