UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA

ROMAN L. HRUSKA U.S. COURTHOUSE

111 SOUTH 18TH PLAZA, SUITE 3210

OMAHA, NEBRASKA 68102

On behalf of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, I am pleased to welcome you to our court as you begin your jury service.  I have three short messages for you.

First, thank you for serving as a juror.  We know that jury service places a big burden on you, your family and your business, farm or employer.  That said, because the Constitution requires that we use grand juries to decide whether someone should be charged with a federal crime and because the Constitution also requires that we empanel juries to decide most civil and criminal trials, we simply could not do our work without you.  Therefore, we are truly grateful that you have agreed to help us in this important work.

Second, we want your experience with us to be positive.  Therefore, I make the following personal promises to you:  You will be treated with dignity and respect.  We will try hard to respect your time.  If you have questions or problems, we will go out of our way to answer or solve them.  We will always be friendly and helpful.  If you think any of these promises are broken, I encourage you to come see me, call me, or send me a letter or a fax.  My address is on the top of this message.

Third, relax, and try to enjoy the experience.  Lots of former jurors tell us that jury service turned out be a wonderful experience.  If you approach your task as a juror with this frame of mind, jury service will not be as bad as you may fear.  It may even be a really good experience.

Again, thank you, and be sure to contact me, if we break our promises.