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Mississippi Code

Miss. Code Ann. § 13-5-2 (2026)

Public policy stated

✓ current as of July 2026
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It is the policy of this state that all persons selected for jury service be selected at random from a fair cross section of the population of the area served by the court, and that all qualified citizens have the opportunity in accordance with this chapter to be considered for jury service in this state and an obligation to serve as jurors when summoned for that purpose. A citizen shall not be excluded from jury service in this state on account of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or economic status.

Laws, 1974, ch 378, § 1, eff. 1/1/1975.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 28 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1981–2024 · leading case: Thorson v. State, 721 So. 2d 590 (Miss. 1998).
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Thorson v. State, 721 So. 2d 590 (Miss. 1998). · cites it 7× “Miss.Code Ann. § 13-5-2 reads: It is the policy of this state that all persons selected for jury service be selected at random from a fair cross section of the population of the area served by the court, and that all qualified citizens have the opportunity in accordance with…”
Thomas v. State, 818 So. 2d 335 (Miss. 2002). · cites it 2× “Thomas claims that drawing the venire from both districts violated Miss.Code Ann. § 13-5-2 (Supp. 2001), which provides: It is the policy of this State that all persons selected for jury service be selected at random from a fair cross section of the population of the area served…”
Owens v. State, 869 So. 2d 1047 (Miss. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 6× “However, I continue to believe, as I have expressed in prior separate writings, that striking a juror because he is unemployed violates the public policy of this state as expressed by the legislature in Mississippi Code Annotated section 13-5-2 (Rev.2002) which states: It is the…”
Walter Lee Johnson v. Steve W. Puckett, 929 F.2d 1067 (5th Cir. 1991). · cites it 2× “The State may choose to reindict him for the same crime. 37 For the foregoing reasons, we REVERSE and REMAND to the district court with instructions to issue the writ of habe-as corpus unless, within a reasonable time to be designated by the district court, the State should…”
Thorson v. State, 76 So. 3d 667 (Miss. 2011). · cites it 2× “On appeal, this Court found that the trial court had committed reversible error in allowing the State to peremptorily strike a member of the jury venire based solely on her religious affiliation, in violation of Article 3, Section 18 of the Mississippi Constitution and…”
Jackson v. State, 910 So. 2d 658 (Miss. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 6× “The Thorson defendant argued that striking a juror because of the juror's religious beliefs violated the Equal Protection Clause and Section 13-5-2 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended.”
Pratt v. State, 870 So. 2d 1241 (Miss. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 2× “Pratt claims that drawing the jury venire from one district violated Mississippi Code Annotated Section 13-5-2, which provides: It is the policy of this State that all persons selected for jury service be selected at random from a fair cross section of the population of the area…”
Yarbrough v. State, 911 So. 2d 951 (Miss. 2005). · cites it 2× “Miss.Code Ann. § 13-5-2 (Rev.2002) states: It is the policy of this state that all persons selected for jury service be selected at random from a fair cross section of the population of the area served by the court, and that all qualified citizens have the opportunity in…”
Bogan v. State, 811 So. 2d 286 (Miss. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 2× “Aside from the federal rights guaranteed by Batson and the Fourteenth Amendment, I believe that Miss.Code Ann. § 13-5-2 (Supp.2000), which sets forth the public policy of this State regarding jury service, prohibits the exclusion of jurors because of sex or economic status as…”
Adams v. State, 537 So. 2d 891 (Miss. 1989). · cites it 2× “378, § 1 (1974), now codified as Miss. Code Ann. § 13-5-2 (Supp. 1988). The particular objection here is that the deputy circuit clerk, acting unilaterally, proceeded to strike from the jury list all persons over sixty-five years of age and all persons who had served on a jury…”
Gathings v. State, 822 So. 2d 266 (Miss. 2002). · cites it 2× “The State claimed that "most of the members of every jury venire impaneled in the last few years know the defendants through kinship, friendship, or family ties.”
Davis v. State, 406 So. 2d 795 (Miss. 1981). “The defendant's rights under Amendments VI and XIV of the Constitution of the United States and under MCA § 13-5-2 (1975) were violated by the failure of the state to select the special venire from a fair cross section of the population of Pearl River County.”
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