Criminal Law Blog
April 11, 2006
What Is the Difference Between A Jury Docket Call Setting and a Jury Trial Setting?
A Jury Docket Call Setting is to help the court sort out which of its jury cases are ready to go to trial. The prosecutor and the defense lawyer are both expected to announce either “ready” or “not ready.” If either one announces “not ready,” he or she will usually have a motion for continuance, which the judge will then either grant or deny. If the judge denies the motion for continuance, then the case is ordinarily set the following week for a Jury Trial.
At a Jury Docket Call setting, there are no witnesses. There is no jury selection. There is no jury. There are no opening statements, no testimony, and no exhibits. At a Jury Docket Call setting, the main question the judge is interested in is: “are both the State and the Defense ready to go to trial?”
At a Jury Trial setting, one of the cases that was taken up at the Jury Docket Call setting actually goes to trial. Now there will be jury selection, after which there will be a jury. After the jury is sworn in, there will be opening statements, testimony, and exhibits.
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