BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed into law a measure that allows some people convicted of felonies in Louisiana to be able to serve on juries for civil and criminal cases.
The bill by Baton Rouge Democratic Rep. Denise Marcelle narrowly won final passage in the legislative session that ended Thursday.
Under current law, people convicted of a felony crime can only serve on a jury if they have been pardoned by a governor. Marcelle’s bill changes that to allow people convicted of felonies to be eligible for jury service if they’ve been off probation or parole and out of prison for five years.
The change starts in August.
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The bill is filed as House Bill 84.