Adult Canyon Lakers can apply to serve on Grand Jury

The Riverside County Superior Court is accepting applications from qualified citizens interested in being nominated to serve as civil grand jurors for a one-year term beginning July 1. Canyon Lake residents are eligible to apply and, if selected, the duties would include investigating the operations of county government, researching matters of civic concern and inquiring into public offenses. Grand jurors serve four to five days a week.

California is served by a grand jury system that provides a grand jury in each county empowered by law to bring indictments or perform an oversight function into the operation of county and municipal governments. Federal grand juries and county grand juries in most other states are concerned only with criminal indictments and have no civil responsibilities.

Applications will be accepted through April 2 and can be acquired by downloading the fillable Grand Jury Application Form and Information for Prospective Grand Jurors Sheet at the grand jury website www.riverside.courts.ca.gov (select Divisions and then Grand Jury).

A per diem, plus mileage, is paid to defray expenses.

Those interested in serving as a grand juror must have the following qualifications: Citizen of the United States, 18 years of age or older, resident of Riverside County for at least one year prior to July 1, be of sound judgment and fair character, possess sufficient knowledge of the English language and be able to attend hearings and meetings four to five days a week.

In addition, applicants cannot currently be serving as a trial juror in any court in California, have been discharged as a grand juror within the previous year, be serving as an elected public official or have been convicted of malfeasance in office, or any felony or high crime.

The 19-person Grand Jury is selected from those who apply. Each applicant is screened by a Grand Jury Recruitment/Selection Committee comprised of Judges of the Superior Court. Those who pass a background investigation will be invited for an interview in May, with the Grand Jury Recruitment/Selection Committee. The most qualified applicants will be placed for nomination by the interviewing judge.

The law requires that the Superior Court submit a list of between 25 and 30 potential Grand Jurors. The Recruitment/Selection Committee reviews all of the applications and selects up to 30 nominated names as required by law. The Recruitment/Selection Committee considers applicants from all Supervisorial Districts within the County to provide a jury as representative of the county as possible.

The grand jury random draw and ceremony will be held in June. The 19 persons selected by random draw will constitute the Grand Jury for the ensuing fiscal year commencing July 1. After the 19 grand jurors have been selected, the remaining names will be drawn by random selection as alternates. If during the year a vacancy occurs, a selection to fill this vacancy is made from the remaining alternate names in the order drawn.