The following information answers questions frequently asked by jurors:
Requests for postponement or excusal must be made in writing to the Jury Clerk by Wednesday of the week preceding your summoned date. The requests for excusal or postponement should be sent to:
Deb Rochon, Jury Clerk
(Debra.Rochon@wicourts.gov)
Dane County Courthouse Room L1001
215 S Hamilton St
Madison, WI 53703
The Juror's Pool ID Number and Juror Pool Member Number should be included on all correspondence.
Postponements and excusals are arranged by the Jury Clerk. We must receive your completed questionnnaire before these requests will be considered.
There will probably be times when you will have to wait prior to being escorted to a courtroom for jury selection. Therefore, it is advisable to bring some reading material or hand work.
Jurors may call the jury clerk's number after 8:00 AM on Mondays to report their illness or emergency and the jury clerk will return the call either that afternoon or the following day.
A person is summoned for two specific weeks, which are stated on the jury summons. Once the two weeks have passed, you have fulfilled your civic obligation for at least four years. Infrequently, jurors may be selected for a longer trial which may go beyond the two week period.
Jurors are randomly selected from the State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles driver's license and identification lists. It is important to keep your address with the Division of Motor Vehicles current to ensure that a juror summons and questionnaire reaches you.
You will be paid $35 per day, $17.50 per half-day, and $.465 per mile round trip to the Courthouse for each day you are required to report. Bus passes are available upon request. It is important that you inform the Jury Clerk as to your mileage so that you can be reimbursed properly.
Parking can be a problem in the downtown area. Please attempt to park in the Capitol Square South Ramp (previously the Dane County Ramp). Meters take quarters only (approximately $.85 for each hour.) Jurors are responsible for their own parking until noon on Mondays. Do not park in reserved parking. If you are selected for a trial, obtain a parking permit from the Jury Clerk on Monday.
Dane County uses a voice mail recording system to inform jurors when they are to report for jury duty. On Thursday of each week, call 608-266-4105 after 4:00 PM to determine if you are to report for duty the following Monday. If your juror number is within the range of numbers that is read off, you are to report the following Monday according to the time that is specified. If your number is not within the range, you do not have to report for that week. The times you may call are:
- Thursday after 4:00 PM until Friday 7:30 AM
- Friday after 4:00 PM until Monday 7:15 AM
- The recording is available 24 hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
Persons requiring TDD service due to a hearing impairment, please call 608-266-4625 7:45 AM to 4:30 Monday through Friday.
Failure to appear can result in the court imposing penalties under WI Stats. section 756.30.
Dane County citizens are required to respond to jury duty no more frequently than every four years. Being available for the two assigned weeks or actual service on a jury fulfills this requirement for four years.
All juries in this county are drawn on Monday, unless it is a holiday, then jury selection is on Tuesday. On the day of jury picking, each person learns whether he/she has been chosen for a trial for that week. Almost three-fourths of our jury trials last only 1 or 2 days.
The law provides that an employer must grant an employee a leave of absence, without loss of time in service for the period of jury duty. No employer may use absence due to jury duty as a basis for discharging an employee or for any disciplinary action against the employee.
Our system provides a month’s advance notice of the two weeks of possible jury duty. When a person is called to jury duty, he/she should inform the employer of the possibility of being selected and of the certain need to be absent from work for the mornings early in each of the two weeks for jury selection.
Jurors are paid $17.50 for any service up to 4 hours and $35.00 for any service over 4 hours in one day. A majority of Dane County employers continue to pay employees while they are on jury duty, but such employers have a right to have their employees’ juror fees (excluding mileage) paid over to them.
For prospective jurors who require an ADA accommodation to fulfill jury duty, please call Deb Rochon at 266-4105 or email her at
debra.rochon@wicourts.gov.
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