Va. Code » Title 19.2. Criminal Procedure » Chapter 13. Grand Juries » Article 2. Regular Grand Juries
Virginia Code

Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-194 (2026)

When and how grand jurors to be selected and summoned; lists to be delivered to clerk

✓ current as of May 2026
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The judge or judges regularly presiding in the circuit court of each county and city shall annually, in the month of June, July, or August, select from citizens of the county or city at least 60 persons and not more than 120 persons 18 years of age or over, of honesty, intelligence, impartiality, and good demeanor and suitable in all respects to serve as grand jurors, who, except as hereinafter provided, shall be the grand jurors for the county or city from which they are selected for the next 12 months. The judge or judges making the selection shall at once furnish to the clerk of the circuit court a list of those selected for that county or city.

The clerk, not more than 20 days before the commencement of each term of his court at which a regular grand jury is required, shall issue a venire facias to the sheriff of his county or city, commanding him to summon not less than five nor more than nine of the persons selected as aforesaid (the number to be designated by the judge of the court by an order entered of record) to be named in the writ to appear on the first day of the court to serve as grand jurors. Those persons who are to be summoned shall be randomly selected but no such person shall be required to appear more than once until all the others have been summoned once, nor more than twice until the others have been twice summoned, and so on. The Circuit Court of James City County, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall select the grand jurors for each court from such county and the City of Williamsburg in such proportion from each as he may think proper.

Any person who has legal custody of and is responsible for a child 16 years of age or younger or a person having a mental or physical impairment requiring continuous care during normal court hours shall be excused from jury service upon his request.

Code 1950, § 19.1-148; 1960, c. 366; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 262; 1973, cc. 401, 439; 1974, c. 618; 1975, c. 495; 1991, c. 226; 2003, c. 825; 2004, c. 306; 2008, c. 644.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases, 1982–2018 · leading case: Muhammad v. Com., 611 S.E.2d 537 (Va. 2005).
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Muhammad v. Com., 611 S.E.2d 537 (Va. 2005). · cites it 4× “2-194, and "a citizen of this Commonwealth, eighteen years of age or over, and shall have been a resident of this Commonwealth one year and of the county or corporation in which the court is to be held six months, and is in other respects a qualified juror.”
Muhammad v. Com., 547 U.S. 1136 (2005). · cites it 4× “The procedure employed in this case complies with the requirements outlined by statute that the grand jury be composed of "persons 18 years of age or over, of honesty, intelligence and good demeanor and suitable in all respects to serve as grand jurors," Code § 19.2-194, and "a…”
Dominique Nyree Waters v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Va. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 12× “Pursuant to Code § 19.2-194, which provides when and how grand jurors are to be selected, between five and nine grand jurors shall be summoned to appear to serve as grand jurors.”
Kenneth Arnold Smith, Jr. v. Commonwealth (Va. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether prosecution was barred by the double jeopardy provision of the Constitution of the United States or Code § 19.2-194, because he had previously been convicted for driving on a revoked or suspended license for the same incident.”
Commonwealth v. Holler, 7 Va. Cir. 131 (Shenandoah Cir. Ct. 1982). “The Virginia statute relating to the composition of the Grand Jury, § 19.2-194, requires that the entire group selected for the year be "eighteen years of age or over, of honesty, intelligence and good demeanor and suitable in all respects to serve as grand jurors.”
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