Excusals and Disqualifications

You may request to be excused from jury service if you are unable to serve as a juror. Requests to be excused can be submitted via the Jury Portal below: 

Jury Portal

Please see list of common excusals below: 

• You have no means of transportation to the court and/or my travel time exceeds 1 ½ hours from home to court.
• Jury Service will cause an extreme financial hardship to you personally.
• You have physical or mental disability or impairment. A doctor’s statement is required if under 70 years of age. No doctor's statement is required if you are over the age of 70. If requesting a permanent medical excusal, a doctor’s note on their letterhead is required regardless of age.
• You have a full-time, non-professional obligation to provide care for a child or an elderly, sick, or disabled person and alternative arrangements are not possible during court hours.
• You are an active-duty member of the armed forces.
• You are a peace officer as defined in Penal Code sections 830.1, 830.2 (a)-(c), or 830.33 (a).

You must meet these minimum qualifications to serve on a jury in Sonoma County:

• You must be a United States citizen.
• You must be 18 years or older.
• You must be a Sonoma County resident.
• You must be able to read and understand English.
• If convicted of a felony, you can no longer be on parole, post release community supervision, felony probation or mandated supervision.
• You cannot have been convicted of malfeasance in office, or if convicted, your civil rights have to have been restored.
• You are not required to register as a sex offender pursuant to Section 290 of the Penal Code based on a felony conviction.
• You are not currently serving as a grand juror or trial juror anywhere in California.
• You are not the subject of a conservatorship.

If you do not meet one or more of these qualifications, you are not legally allowed to perform jury service and are therefore disqualified. Please notify us as soon as possible via the jury portal or by contacting Jury Services.