Marlborough people are committed to performing their civic duty on trial juries compared to the rest of the country, according to the Justice Ministry.
The information, released through the Official Information Act, shows almost one-third of those called up in Marlborough appear for jury service in the Blenheim District Court or the High Court at Blenheim compared to 21 per cent nationally.
Nearly twice as many people nationally do not turn up to be part of the jury pool compared to Marlborough. About the same percentage of people are excused from sitting on the jury panel.
District courts general manager Tony Fisher said anyone who is registered to vote is eligible to serve on a jury within the district that they live in.
Prospective jurors are picked at random and names are scanned by the ministry's Jury Management System to exclude people who may be ineligible including those who may have a criminal history.
People in certain jobs, including lawyers and police officers, are not eligible to be called.
Those who are identified as having a criminal history are checked by court staff and either excluded from the pool or put back in the list of people summoned for jury duty, he said.
Those who receive the call for jury service can adjourn their appearance for another time within 12 months if the time is inconvenient.
Potential jurors who do not turn up to court without a reasonable excuse can be fined up to $1000 by the court, but are given a chance to explain first.
None of the 349 people in Marlborough who failed to show up last year were fined.
Mr Fisher said there was no reason why people were called for jury service several times a year, despite some anecdotal evidence.
"The selection is purely random."
In January, a chosen juror for a rape trial at the Blenheim District Court was stood down because she stated out loud that the accused man was guilty.
The ministry said it did not keep formal records of incidents such as this, but it would be "uncommon".
- The Marlborough Express
SIMON WONG
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