As Lee County’s population dips during the summer months because of departing seasonal residents, jury selection becomes a challenge…that’s according to Clerk of Courts, Charlie Green. Lee County uses what’s called a jury yield system…that means substantially more potential jurors are summoned than might be needed. But Clerk of Courts – Charlie Green – says he must cast an even wider net during the summer months…

“We pull our jurors from licensed drivers who are living in Lee County and their address is in the county…and then we summon, say we need 50 jurors for a given day, we may have to summon 110…particularly in the summer…to get the yield that we need, because so many of our residents are seasonal.”

Green says they generally get enough jurors, but have sometimes come up short. He says they’ve even had to literally go outside and pull people off the street. He emphasizes that because only licensed drivers are summoned, Lee County residents without a license who WANT to be included in the pool of potential jurors should get a Florida state I.D. card, which stands in for a license. Residents can be called for jury duty once a year.