Amendment of Rules 2.511

Full title: Amendment of Rules 2.511, 6.411, and 6.620 of the Michigan Court Rules

Court: Supreme Court of Michigan

Date published: Jun 26, 2001

00-26 (Mich. Jun. 26, 2001)

Opinion

00-26.

June 26, 2001.

On order of the Court, notice of the proposed changes and an opportunity for comment in writing and at a public hearing having been provided, and consideration having been given to the comments received, the following amendments of Rules 2.511, 6.411 and 6.620 of the Michigan Court Rules are adopted, to be effective September 1, 2001.

[The present language is amended as indicated below.]

RULE 2.511 IMPANELING THE JURY

[Unchanged.]

Alternate Jurors. The court may direct that 7 or more jurors be impaneled to sit. After the instructions to the jury have been given and the action is ready to be submitted, unless the parties have stipulated that all the jurors may deliberate, the names of the jurors must be placed in a container and names drawn to reduce the number of jurors to 6, who shall constitute the jury. The persons excused in this manner must be discharged from that action after the jury retires to consider its verdict. The court may retain the alternate jurors during deliberations. If the court does so, it shall instruct the alternate jurors not to discuss the case with any other person until the jury completes its deliberations and is discharged. If an alternate juror replaces a juror after the jury retires to consider its verdict, the court shall instruct the jury to begin its deliberations anew.

(C) — (G) [Unchanged]

RULE 6.411 ADDITIONAL JURORS

The court may impanel more than 12 jurors. If more than the number of jurors required to decide the case are left on the jury before deliberations are to begin, the names of the jurors must be placed in a container and names drawn from it to reduce the number of jurors to the number required to decide the case. The jurors eliminated by this process are to be discharged after the jury retires to deliberate. The court may retain the alternate jurors during deliberations. If the court does so, it shall instruct the alternate jurors not to discuss the case with any other person until the jury completes its deliberations and is discharged. If an alternate juror replaces a juror after the jury retires to consider its verdict, the court shall instruct the jury to begin its deliberations anew.

RULE 6.620 IMPANELING THE JURY

Alternate Jurors. The court may direct that seven 7 or more jurors be impaneled to sit in a criminal case. After the instructions to the jury have been given and the case submitted, the names of the jurors must be placed in a container and names drawn from it to reduce the number of jurors to six 6, who shall constitute the jury. The persons eliminated in this manner must be discharged from the case after the jury retires to consider its verdict. The court may retain the alternate jurors during deliberations. If the court does so, it shall instruct the alternate jurors not to discuss the case with any other person until the jury completed its deliberations and is discharged. If an alternate juror replaces a juror after the jury retires to consider its verdict, the court shall instruct the jury to begin its deliberations anew.

[Unchanged.]

Staff Comment: The June 26, 2001 amendments of MCR 2.511(B), MCR 6.411, and MCR 6.620(A), effective September 1, 2001, were based on a proposal from the Michigan Judges Association. Consistent with the December 1999 amendment of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure for the United States District Courts, the amendments allow courts to retain alternate jurors during deliberations.