§ 25-1678.Juries; proceedings stayed; jury panel or list quashed; grounds; procedures; new list, order for.

Section 25-1678 is the mechanism for challenging how a jury was put together, and it is the only mechanism available. A party can move to stay the proceedings, quash the entire jury panel or jury list, or ask for other appropriate relief, on the ground that jury selection substantially failed to comply with the Jury Selection Act. That motion has a firm deadline: it must come within seven days after the moving party discovered, or through diligence could have discovered, the grounds for it, and in every case before the petit jury is sworn to try the case.

Getting a hearing on the motion takes more than a bare accusation. The motion has to include a sworn statement of facts that, if true, would show a substantial failure to comply with the Act. Once that threshold is met, the moving party can present the jury commissioner’s testimony, relevant nonpublic records and papers the commissioner used, and other relevant evidence. If the court agrees that jury selection substantially failed to comply with the Act, it can stay the proceedings, quash a panel or list, or grant other appropriate relief.

This procedure is exclusive. Whether the challenger is the state, a person accused of a crime, or a party to a civil case, section 25-1678 is the only route for arguing that a jury was not selected in conformity with the Jury Selection Act. The records the jury commissioner used stay confidential, except as needed to prepare or present the motion, until every person on the jury list has been discharged — though the parties can inspect, reproduce, and copy those records throughout the motion’s preparation and pendency.

If the challenge succeeds and the entire jury list is quashed, the court does not just patch the old list. It orders the jury commissioner to draw an entirely new key number under section 25-1653 and build a new master key list under section 25-1654, then qualify and summon jurors from that new list under the Act’s usual procedures.