Jury Duty in Arizona

A person 75 or older may send the court a written request to be excused, temporarily or permanently, and the judge or jury commissioner must grant it. Others may be temporarily excused, on timely application, for a medical or mental condition (documented by a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner), inability to understand English, harm to the public interest, or undue or extreme physical or financial hardship to the person or someone in their care (for example, no substitute caregiver for a dependent); missing work alone does not qualify, and hardship requests must be resolved before the service date with supporting documents. Certified peace officers, state correctional officers, and people summoned within four years after serving on an Arizona grand jury may also be excused. Requests go to the judge or jury commissioner of the court that sent the summons.

A summoned juror who has not been excused or postponed and wilfully, without reasonable excuse, fails to appear can be fined up to $500 and ordered to serve on another date. If the person ignores a second summons, the court may issue a body attachment (an order to bring the person in) as for direct contempt of court.

Arizona employers may not refuse to let an employee serve, and may not fire or in any way penalize an employee for serving on a grand or trial jury. Employers also may not require or ask employees to use vacation, annual or sick leave for jury service, and the employee keeps seniority and must be restored to their position on return; employers are not required to pay wages during jury service. Violating these rules is a class 3 misdemeanor. If a small employer (five or fewer full-time employees) already has another employee on a jury, the court must postpone the summoned employee's service. Jurors are paid $12 a day by the county plus round-trip mileage at the state-employee rate; a juror excused on the first day gets mileage only.