WHEREAS, the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court endeavors to operate a jury management system that guarantees the constitutional right to trial by jury while simultaneously optimizing jurors’ valuable time, and

        WHEREAS, the Florida Supreme Court has established standard panel size guidelines to assist courts with operating efficient, effective jury management systems;

        NOW THEREFORE, I, JAMES R. CLAYTON, Chief Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, hereby order that the following measures are to be taken to improve the management and utilization of jurors in Volusia County:

        1. Judges assigned to divisions conducting jury trials are to notify the Volusia County Clerk of Court’s Jury Management office by telephone or e-mail no later than the first of each month to advise of their jury selection dates for the following month (ie. notify by January 1 of jury selection dates for February). Said notifications should also include information regarding extraordinary cases (ie. multi-week, multi-party, death penalty, or high profile cases) that may require extra jurors be summoned. A judge’s failure to notify Jury Management of his/her jury selection dates will result in no jurors being available for that judge.

        2. Jury selection is to occur on Mondays (unless Monday is a holiday). In extraordinary cases, arrangements may be made for jurors to be summoned to appear on other days, but the Jury Management office must be notified at least 4 weeks in advance of such an extraordinary need.

        3. Absent notifications as outlined in section 1 above, Jury Management is to issue jury summonses in sufficient numbers as to ensure a juror yield in accordance with the following:

                • 30 jurors for each judge conducting Circuit Civil trials
                • 40 jurors (30 am / 10 pm) for each judge conducting Circuit Criminal (Felony) trials
                • 20 jurors for each judge conducting County Civil trials
                • 20 jurors for each judge conducting County Criminal (Misdemeanor) trials.

        4. Notwithstanding the number of jurors summoned pursuant to section 3 above, Jury Management is to adhere to the following panel sizes when sending prospective jurors to each courtroom for voir dire:

                • Capital cases (Death Penalty) – 50 prospective jurors
                • Life felony and other 12-person jury cases – 40 prospective jurors
                • Sexual battery cases (child victim) – 30 prospective jurors
                • Sexual battery cases (no child victim) – 25 prospective jurors
                • Other felony cases – 22 prospective jurors
                • Circuit civil cases – 22 prospective jurors
                • Misdemeanor domestic violence cases – 16 prospective jurors
                • Misdemeanor DUI cases – 16 prospective jurors
                • Other misdemeanor cases – 14 prospective jurors
                • County civil cases – 14 prospective jurors

(Judges may request that Jury Management deviate from these standard panel sizes in exceptional cases. However, such deviations may not exceed 10 additional jurors without the consent of the Chief Judge.)

        5. Judges scheduled to select juries on any given Monday are to notify Jury Management by telephone or e-mail no later than 2:00 pm on the preceding Friday to verify their need for jurors. A judge’s failure to so notify Jury Management office will result in no jurors being called for that judge.

        6. When determining the sizes of jury panels to send to courtrooms, Jury Management is to adhere to the panel sizes referenced in section 4 above. However, the Court endeavors to have all jurors reporting for jury duty experience the voir dire process. Therefore, panel sizes may be expanded, particularly in the afternoon, if doing so will not adversely affect another judge’s ability to select a jury.

        7. Prospective jurors in excess of the number needed to complete the jury selection process are to be released from the jury pool by Jury Management as soon as practical.

TO BE RECORDED in Volusia County, Florida

DONE AND ORDERED in DeLand, Volusia County, Florida this 27th day of September 2022.