Those who serve on Butler County juries will now get more money
Mar. 27—Butler County jurors have been underpaid for decades, commissioners said, so they have agreed to increase the daily compensation by 200% — up to $30 for jurors selected to serve, and other adjustments.
The county clerk of courts and common pleas judges asked the commissioners a couple weeks ago to approve raising the amount jurors are compensated from $5 to $20 for those who are called for duty but not selected and seated jurors from $10 to $40 per day. For trials that last longer than two weeks, the daily rate would go up to $75. The rates would be the same for regular and grand juries.
The commissioners tabled the request twice because they wanted more information. On Monday, they agreed to boost fees to $15 per day for jurors called, $30 for those who are empaneled and $50 for trials that last longer than two weeks.,
Commissioner Don Dixon said he discussed the adjustment with Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Oster.
"I had a discussion with Judge Oster and I think the judges discussed the court fee increase and they too believe it should be $15, $30 and $50," Dixon said. "They were very accommodating and worked with us well on that, so thank you judges."
To put things in perspective, a three-week death penalty trial in 2022 for suspect Gurpreet Singh, who was accused of killing family members in West Chester Twp., cost roughly $2,800 in juror compensation. Under the proposed pay scale, the cost would have been around $13,000. The jury was hung and the case will be retried in April 2024.
Administrative Judge Greg Howard told the Journal-News previously the county's jury compensation is "offensive."
"You're asking these people to come in and give up a portion of their lives, whether it's one day or a week or two weeks or three weeks; $5 a day I think is just offensive," Howard said. "Even though you're not totally compensating them for what they would be getting working a full-time job or something like that, I think it's something that's way overdue."
Jurors are paid $50 per day in the federal court system and are reimbursed for mileage. If they are required to travel farther than 75 miles away from home their lodging is also reimbursed up to a point.
