Pitkin County sees unusually low ‘juror rates,’ commissioner says

An unusually low percentage of those contacted to be potential jurors are actually showing up for jury duty in Pitkin County, compared to the rest of the state. 

That’s according to Pitkin County Jury Commissioner Elizabeth Mackin, who said Pitkin County has a “juror rate” of 33%, meaning only a third of those contacted for jury duty show up.

“Ultimately, every person has a right to a trial on criminal charges,” Mackin said. “We want to be able to ensure that right, but in order to ensure that right, we need to have jurors appear for those trials.”

According to a state-wide jury commissioner meeting she attended, Mackin said most districts in the state had a juror rate closer to 50%. 

“Some are even as close to 70% or 75% across the state,” she said. 

But other mountain towns have lower rates as well. Mackin said Telluride and Breckenridge had juror rates around 40% to 50%, and Vail’s rate was about 33% when she reached out to their respective jury commissioners in 2024. 

The most common excuses prospective jurors give when asking for postponement or disqualification from jury duty are related to business, vacation, or medical reasons, Mackin said. She added it’s common for jurors not to serve because they are second homeowners who have an Aspen address on file but are living out of state. 

“My theory is that we have such a transient population of people that either live here part of the year or live here temporarily and then move,” she said. 

She notifies prospective jurors of the court’s expectations through the mail, relying on the Department of Motor Vehicles, voter registration, and the Colorado Department of Revenue to obtain addresses.

In the last three Pitkin County jury trials, Mackin said she’s had 8% to 30% of jurors request postponement as close as a week before the trials. At one past Pitkin County trial, she said she was one juror away from a mistrial. 

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Under Colorado state law, it is illegal — classified as a petty offense — to fail to obey a juror summons. 

The law states that “a juror commits failure to obey a juror summons if he receives a summons to serve as a trial or grand juror … and knowingly fails to obey the summons without a justifiable excuse.” 

Though Mackin said judges in Pitkin County and across the state rarely do so, they can issue arrest warrants to those who fail to appear without a justifiable excuse. She speculated the Pitkin County Courthouse would begin “having those conversations” on arrest warrants if the lack of jurors begins to result in mistrials.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.