Larimer County/District Court Jury Duty

[John Meissner]

When Bill Pinkham was mayor, there was some exception made for Estes Park residents related to emissions checks - the argument was that it would have been a hardship for our elderly population to drive their cars down to Fort Collins to get them tested, so it wasn't that an emission check was set up locally, rather Estes Park was just exempted from getting their cars checked.  I was slightly aghast that the exception was carved out: I am not sure that Estes Park residents maintain their vehicles any better than Berthoud residents, for example, or because we live in a less densely populated area that we should be allowed to pollute more.  I guess I was most surprised that we could work this out and have it apply in perpetuity.

All of this is an introduction to what I see as an equally "unfair yet who do we approach to effect a change because of hardship specific to Estes Park" residents, that of being summoned to jury duty in Fort Collins.  Except for Red Feather Lakes or Virginia Dale, both of which have limited populations, Estes Park is the farthest distance from the county seat, with no transportation besides personal vehicles, and no remuneration of travel expenses or hourly parking.

I get that everyone must do their civic duty, but I am not sure why Estes Park residents should have to do more than their civic duty, and lose money on top of it.  Fort Collins and Loveland have buses and the majority of the population and friends/family who can drop them off or bring them lunch.  Are Estes Park residents disproportionately selected to fill jury pools?  It sure seemed that way today, when three people in a 40-person jury pool hailed from Estes, and none of them were ultimately selected for a six-person jury.  Does District Court really need to call 40 people for a six person jury?  Is this an efficient use of taxpayer money?  Are Estes Park residents disproportionately called because they are more likely to report?

I get that most or all of the trustees will beg off with "This isn't our department", similar to recent concerns raised about grocery prices and local produce selection.  Some empty promises of looking into it, then forgotten a month later, with no follow-up or changes, because not enough groundswell from enough influencers to require a change in priorities (housing for those not living here important, grocery prices for those already struggling to live here not important). But with local media unwilling or unable to even poll a wider audience via social media or letters to the editor if overselection is a problem, and no one on town staff or town board willing to advocate or even ask the district court or county commissioners if these concerns are tutelage/valid, the waste will continue, and Estes Park will keep having to provide a disproportionate number of foot soldiers in the local war on crime.

-john

[Gary Hall]

Thanks, John. If it's substantially impactful to Estes, I do feel that it is my department to consider, and act if there's a reasonable action. For ex, the grocery/produce item, while not an official Town or mayor oversight, is something I continue to do outreach to see if I can create interest from some of the leaders in produce goods. 

Anyway, on this item, my initial thought is that the appropriate Larimer authority might be a hard stop on such a request. I seem to get called every two or three years, but have only once had to go down for a panel, and didn't have to serve. BUT -- I'm much more mobile still than many of our resident citizens who must get called from time to time. 

I'm willing to test the waters. My expectation is not high to get such an exemption, but I'll check into it. 

Thanks. 

Gary M. Hall

Mayor of the Town of Estes Park

Office phone: 970-577-3706

Email: gh...@estes.org

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[John Meissner]

I am not saying no Estes Park residents should ever be called to jury duty.  Obviously, we are residents of the county.

I am asking if Estes Park residents are over represented in the supposed "random" pool.  When whoever you ask emphatically says No, I would ask if they can prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.  Every time O am called, I see multiple Estes Park residents and at most one Masonville resident and at most one Berthoud resident.  Our populations are similar.  How often does something happen before the excuse of coincidence stop being mathematically possible?

I am asking if free parking can be provided to Estes Park residents called to jury duty.

I am asking if discount hotel rooms in Fort Collins can be provided to Estes Park residents who have to serve on a jury where the trial extends beyond three days, because the commute gets tedious and expensive and environmentally unwarranted, and the $50 compensation which finally kicks in after day three in laughable as far as income lost and gas and food required for those self-employed or retired, which is the bulk of our population.

If jurors get compensation starting on day one for expenses incurred, which is suggested in the juror summons but not guaranteed, how can Estes Park residents make it more of a guarantee?

-john

[Gary Hall]

Good clarifications, thanks, John. 

Gary M. Hall

Mayor of the Town of Estes Park

Office phone: 970-577-3706

Email: gh...@estes.org

[John Meissner]

Sorry, I meant to say Wellington, not Masonville.

-john

[Gary Hall]

👍

Gary M. Hall

Mayor of the Town of Estes Park

Office phone: 970-577-3706

Email: gh...@estes.org

[Gary Hall]

John, I was able to gather a variety of information from the Jury Commissioner for Larimer County. First, I was curious about the selection process and the perceived over-selection in Estes. Here's the information she gave me about the selection process:

Each year, the Judicial Branch receives lists of all registered voters and all holders of driver’s licenses and non-driver identification cards throughout the state, as well as records from the Colorado Department of Revenue. The lists are merged, duplicates and names of deceased citizens are removed, and the resulting list is divided by county location. Throughout the year, each county requests a certain number of names, based on the number of trials scheduled, which are randomly selected from the list. Colorado law allows for a person to be summoned once per calendar year. Since the summons process is random, there is no easy explanation to why a person may not have received a summons or another person is summoned more frequently. Each potential juror name goes into the system with a different random number attached to it each year. In some counties with small populations, almost every qualified citizen will be called for jury service each year due to the number of jury trials requested. In larger counties a person may not be called for many years. However, to help alleviate this situation, a new system was put into place in 2001 whereby an individual who receives a summons in one year will have a lower priority to be called the next year. The selection process is still random, but people who have been summoned recently will be assigned a lower priority for jury service in subsequent years and people who have not been summoned in the past will have a higher priority to be called for jury service.

Even with the prioritization and the randomness, one could envision an arithmetic scenario (depending what type of randomization algorithm they use) where person A in the county got selected over the course of some range of years more than person B, though it shouldn't be rampant if they've got reasonable formulas. 

On the other items (pay and reimbursement for expenses, etc.), here's what the rules say. These are apparently fixed by the state for all counties.

Jurors are paid under sections 13-71-125 thru 132, Colorado Revised Statutes.
• Employed jurors are paid by employers for the first three days of juror service, pursuant to statute.
• Unemployed (including retired) jurors may ask the court for reasonable expenses for the first three days of juror service, including parking and mileage
• If required, receipts for expenses must be received by the jury commissioner no later than three days after reporting for juror service.
• The State pays trial or grand jurors $50 per day after the third day of actual juror service.

Self-employed can request $50 per day for those first three days. 

So, much of it is at the discretion of the court as to whether to pay reasonable expenses for those unemployed and retired. 

And employers are supposed to pay for the first three days. If unemployed, including retirees, 

It's all a bit educational to me. I've been called maybe 4 or 5 times in my 20+ years up here, only had to go down once, and didn't sit on a trial. 

I'm posting this in the public forum so it might help those who read it here. 

Thanks!

Gary M. Hall

Mayor of the Town of Estes Park

Office phone: 970-577-3706

Email: gh...@estes.org

On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 9:12 PM John Meissner <jo....@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry, I meant to say Wellington, not Masonville.

-john

On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 9:57 PM Gary Hall <gh...@estes.org> wrote:

Good clarifications, thanks, John. 

[John Meissner]

Mayor Hall - Thanks.  As noted in my initial communication, as the town with the highest median age in Colorado, a large number of Estes Park residents are retired.  The county is not going to pay for their parking or gas or hotel rooms if they are called to jury duty or are picked for a trial.  They just aren't.  They are going to pass the buck to their employer, which they don't have, or have them fill out a form, which they won't honor.

The selection process should be weighted against Estes Park residents even being in the pool of potential jurors.  Sorry, but until we form our own county, or create our own free transportation system, the process is going to be weighted unfairly against Estes Park residents, who have the farthest to travel of anyone in the county, and the highest expenses. 

Why don't we have emissions testing in Estes Park?  How did we get around that, which is devastating to the environment, yet continue to be overweighted in jury pools, which is also devastating to the environment? 

Your experience is your experience.  One swallow does not a summer make.  My experience, which is being called for jury duty every year for the past six years, and this particular year for the absolutely stupid insanity of filling a courtroom with 48 potential jurors for a 6-member jury, is the definition of wasteful, and equally valid as a data point.  There should be another line added to the code, which is that, however random it is, if you are picked by the computer for jury duty six years in a row, you should be considered the winner of the golden ticket, and be given a six-day, five-night all inclusive trip to Aruba.  But that seems equally unlikely.   Just bend your shoulder to the plow, and ask not what your government can do for you, when you are busy doing the work of Fort Collins and Loveland for them.  The easiest way for me to avoid this next year is to die, which I'm not particularly interested in, or register in another county, which I will likely do because I'm tired of being exploited because I'm too powerless to fight back without advocacy from our local attorneys, retired judges or local press.

Thanks for trying.  But I'm not sure any headway was made, as they are not going to change any aspect of their system, and Estes Park is going to continue not having to have their emissions tested while trotting faithfully down to Fort Collins to overrepresent and pay out of pocket for preserving their democracy, or our agreeing to be led around by the nose-ability, or whatever.    

[Gary Hall]

Thanks, John. I'd still encourage the retired & unemployed to apply for mileage and parking reimbursement for the first three days; the option is there. I agree, hotels aren't going to happen. Yes, not much progress, but I'd suggest you contact the jury commissioner with your specific anomaly (I think it's an anomaly, six in a row), that just seems way out of whack somehow, must be a not-very-good random generator. I've had four in 22 years, but it sounds like there's something amiss there. I don't think there's any way we get the state or county to not include Estes, for better or worse, in the selection pool. Let me know if you get called for number 7 in row. I'd take you down one of the first days on my dime, do some errands, and talk to the jury commissioner about the aberrant randomness. 

Gary M. Hall

Mayor of the Town of Estes Park

Office phone: 970-577-3706

Email: gh...@estes.org