Daily Reporting Message

Your summons gives you the date that you are to report to the courthouse.

Jurors are summoned to be "on-call" for a one month period. If you are selected to serve on a jury, your jury service ends when the trial ends. If you are not selected as a juror, you may be required to report again during the "on-call" period. Specific reporting instructions will be provided throughout the month via the Jury Information Line.

Although you are scheduled to report on the date stated on the Jury Summons form, the Court's schedule may change, therefore causing your appearance date to change. Please call the Jury Information line...

1-800-582-9109

...after 6:00 p.m. on the evening before your appearance date and have your nine digit participant number available when you call. The message will provide individualized reporting instructions.

If you have any questions, please call the Clerk's Office at 361-788-5000, during regular business hours.

You may ask to be exempted or excused from jury service or to have your jury service postponed. Please put your request in writing and include a daytime telephone number where you can be reached. You must appear for jury service unless we tell you that the Court has granted your request. Please mail your letter to: U.S. District Court, P.O. Box 1638, Victoria, Texas, 77901. Call the jury information line at 1-800-582-9109 to find out the status of your request. Please have your participant number available when you call.

Exemptions

The Court may exempt you from service if you are:

• A member in active service of the armed services of the United States.
  
• A member of a fire or police department.
  
• An elected official actively engaged in the performance of official duties.

Excuses

The Court may excuse you from jury service if you are a:

• Person not employed outside the home, having active care and custody of a child under the age of ten whose health or safety would be jeopardized by your absence for jury service; or a person who is essential to the care of the aged or infirm persons and who is not employed outside the home.
  
• Person who has served as a grand or petit juror in Federal Court within the past two years.
  
• Person over seventy years of age.
  
• Member of a federal law enforcement agency (such as an agent for Postal, FBI, Customs, etc.).
  
• Member of a volunteer safety organization and work in an official capacity without compensation (fire fighters, rescue squads or ambulance crews).
  
• Person for whom jury service would cause undue hardship or extreme inconvenience. (medical excuses require a precise doctor's statement)

Postponements

A request for postponement must be made in writing, show why the delay is unavoidable, and include your daytime telephone number.

Report to the Jury Assembly Room, Room Number 217, on the 2nd floor of the Martin Luther King Federal Building, 312 S. Main, Victoria, Texas. The U.S. Post Office, Downtown Branch, is located on the 1st floor of the building. Parking is available in the tree shaded lot located on the corner of N. Liberty and E. Church Streets. Additional parking is available along Main St., South of Church Street and adjacent side streets.

Counties in the Victoria Division:

Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Jackson, Lavaca, Refugio, and Victoria

Yes. At the end of your jury service, you will need to submit a form called “Juror Attendance and Mileage Certificate”. You will receive this form when you report for orientation. Federal law authorizes the following payments:

• $40.00 for each day that you come to the courthouse for jury service.
  
• 50.5 cents for each mile driven via the shortest, most direct route to and from the courthouse.
• If you are selected to serve on a jury, a subsistence rate for lodging may be allowed if you live over fifty (50) miles from the courthouse and you stay overnight in a hotel in order to attend court. You must attach the lodging receipt to the form.
  
• Other expenses including road tolls, parking and public transportation
  

A United States Treasury check will be mailed to you in about four weeks following completion of your jury service. The payment process will begin upon submission of your Juror Attendance and Mileage Certificate. This form will be provided to you at orientation.