(a) Summoning and Selecting Prospective Jurors.(1) Each municipality shall establish a procedure for summoning and selecting prospective jurors, which procedure shall be calculated to provide the defendant with a fair opportunity for obtaining on the jury a representative cross section of the population of the area served by the court. (2) For the purposes of this rule, the term "area served by the court" means the entire territorial boundaries of the municipality, even if the boundaries encompass portions of more than one county or other political subdivision. (b) Challenge to the Array.(1) No array or panel of any trial jury shall be quashed, nor shall any verdict in any case be set aside or averted, by reason of the fact that the court or jury commissioner has returned such jury or any of them in any informal or irregular manner, if in the opinion of the court the irregularity is unimportant and insufficient to vitiate the return of such jury. All issues of fact arising on any challenge to the array shall be tried by the court.(2) At any time before trial, upon motion by a party or on its own motion, the court may declare a mistrial in a case on the ground that a fair jury pool cannot be safely assembled in that particular case due to a public health crisis or limitations brought about by such crisis. A declaration of a mistrial under this paragraph must be supported by specific findings.(c) Orientation and Examination of Jurors. An orientation and examination shall be conducted to inform prospective jurors about their duties and service and to obtain information about prospective jurors to facilitate an intelligent exercise of challenges for cause and peremptory challenges. (1) The jury commissioner or court employee in charge of summoning prospective jurors is authorized to examine and, when appropriate, excuse prospective jurors who do not satisfy the statutory qualifications for jury service, or who are entitled to a postponement, or as otherwise authorized by appropriate court order. (2) When prospective jurors have reported to the courtroom, the judge shall explain to them in plain and clear language: (I) The grounds for challenge for cause; (II) Each juror's duty to volunteer information that would constitute a disqualification or give rise to a challenge for cause; (III) The identities of the parties and their counsel; (IV) The nature of the case using applicable instructions if available or, alternatively, a joint statement of factual information intended to provide a relevant context for the prospective jurors to respond to questions asked of them. Alternatively, at the request of counsel and in the discretion of the judge, counsel may present such information through brief non-argumentative statements; (V) General legal principles applicable to the case including presumption of innocence, burden of proof, definition of reasonable doubt, elements of charged offenses and other matters that jurors will be required to consider and apply in deciding issues. (3) The judge shall ask prospective jurors questions concerning their qualifications to serve as jurors. The court may, in its discretion, allow the parties or their counsel to supplement the court's interrogation by asking additional questions of prospective jurors. In the discretion of the judge, juror questionnaires, poster boards and other methods may be used. In order to minimize delay, the judge may reasonably limit the time available to the parties or their counsel for juror examination. The court may limit or terminate repetitious, irrelevant, unreasonably lengthy, abusive or otherwise improper examination. (4) Jurors shall not be required to disclose personal locating information, such as address or place of business, in open court and such information shall not be maintained in files open to the public. The trial judge shall assure that parties and counsel have access to appropriate and necessary locating information. (5) Once the jury is impaneled, the judge shall again explain in more detail the general principles of law applicable to criminal cases, the procedural guidelines regarding conduct by jurors during the trial, case specific legal principles and definitions of technical or special terms expected to be used during presentation of the case. (d) Challenges for Cause.(1) Challenges for cause may be taken on one or more of the following grounds: (I) Absence of any qualification prescribed by statute to render a person competent as a juror except that, for the purpose of this rule, any requirement that a prospective juror be a resident of a the county shall be deemed satisfied if the prospective juror is a resident of the area served by the court as defined in section (a)(2) of this rule; (II) Relationship within the third degree, by blood, adoption, or marriage, to a defendant or to any attorney of record or attorney engaged in the trial of the case; (III) Standing in the relation of guardian and ward, employer and employee, landlord and tenant, debtor and creditor, or principal and agent to, or being a member of the household of, or associated in business with, or surety on any bond or obligation for, any defendant; (IV) The juror is or has been a party adverse to the defendant in a civil action, or has complained against or been accused by the defendant in a criminal prosecution; (V) The juror has served on any investigatory body which inquired into the facts of the offense charged; (VI) The juror was a juror at a former trial arising out of the same factual situation or involving the same defendant; (VII) The juror was a juror in a civil action against the defendant arising out of the act charged as a crime; (VIII) The juror was a witness to any matter related to the crime or its prosecution; (IX) The juror occupies a fiduciary relationship to the defendant or a person alleged to have been injured by the crime or the person on whose complaint the prosecution was instituted; (X) The existence of a state of mind in a juror manifesting a bias for or against the defendant, or for or against the prosecution, or the acknowledgment of a previously formed or expressed opinion regarding the guilt or innocence of the defendant shall be grounds for disqualification of the juror, unless the court is satisfied that the juror will render an impartial verdict based solely upon the evidence and the instructions of the court; (XII) The juror is an employee of a public law enforcement agency or public defender's office. (2) If either party desires to introduce evidence, other than the sworn responses of the prospective juror, for the purpose of establishing grounds to disqualify or challenge the juror for cause, such evidence shall be heard and all issues related thereto shall be determined by the court out of the presence of the other prospective jurors. All matters pertaining to the qualifications and competency of the prospective jurors shall be deemed waived by the parties if not raised prior to the swearing in of the jury to try the case, except that the court for good cause shown or upon a motion for mistrial or other relief may hear such evidence during the trial out of the presence of the jury and enter such orders as are appropriate. (e) Peremptory Challenges and Manner of Exercise. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the jury shall be impaneled as follows: The box shall be filled with prospective jurors exceeding by six the number of jurors requested by the defendant pursuant to Rule 223(b) above. Prospective jurors shall be sworn, voir dire examination conducted, and challenges for cause taken and determined. Jurors excused by virtue of successful challenge for cause shall be replaced and replacements sworn, examined, and subjected to challenge for cause. When there are no remaining jurors subject to challenges for cause, the prosecution and defendant each shall be entitled to three peremptory challenges, all of which must be exercised either orally or by striking names from a list prepared by the court, and to be exercised alternatively by the parties commencing with the prosecution. In any case where there are multiple defendants, each side shall have an additional peremptory challenge for each defendant after the first, but not to exceed ten. The number of jurors called to the box in cases involving multiple defendants shall be consistent with the number of peremptory challenges permitted to be exercised. (f) Alternate jurors. The court may, on its own motion or on the motion of either the prosecution or defense, direct that not more than one alternate juror be impaneled. Such juror shall have the same qualifications, shall be subject to the same examination and challenges, and shall have the same functions, powers, facilities and privileges as the regular jurors. (g) Custody of Jury.(1) The court should only sequester jurors in extraordinary cases. Otherwise, jurors should be permitted to separate during all trial recesses, both before and after the case has been submitted to the jury for deliberation. Cautionary instructions as to their conduct during all recesses shall be given to the jurors by the court. (2) The jurors shall be in the custody of the bailiff or other person designated by the court whenever that are deliberating and at any other time as ordered by the court. (3) If the jurors are permitted to separate during any recess of the court, the court shall order them to return at a day and hour appointed by the court for the purpose of continuing the trial, or for resuming their deliberations if the case has been submitted to the jury. (h) Juror Questions. Jurors shall be allowed to submit written questions to the court for the court to ask of witnesses during trial, in compliance with procedures established by the trial court. The trial court shall have the discretion to prohibit or limit questioning in a particular trial for good cause. Entire chapter amended June 30, 1988, effective 1/1/1989; (c) repealed and readopted with amendments, (d)(1)(XI) repealed, and (g)(1) amended and adopted June 10, 1999, effective 7/1/1999; (h) added and adopted April 3, 2003, effective 7/1/2004; amended and adopted by the Court, En Banc, 5/21/2020, effective immediately; amended and adopted by the Court, En Banc, 8/5/2020, effective immediately.