A Message to Jurors From Chief Judge John M. Gerrard:

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. 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.

Third, many former jurors tell us that jury service turned out to be a wonderful experience. If you approach your jury service with this expectation, you are likely to be pleasantly surprised by how much you will learn and the sense of pride you will feel as your term of service draws to an end.

Again, thank you for your service.

John M. Gerrard
Chief United States District Judge