The January jury term scheduled this coming week has been canceled, District Attorney Walt Merrell said Friday afternoon.

Members of the DA’s staff, who took office this week, spent the afternoon calling members of the jury pool to let them know they didn’t have to report to duty on Monday.

“When we saw how the docket was lining up, we didn’t want to have the jurors come here just to be told to go home, and it also saved the county from having to pay them,” he said.

Merrell said the previous administration settled a number of cases on the docket. In addition, the new prosecutors negotiated some settlements this week.

“We are satisfied with the settlements we negotiation,” Merrell said.

There also were several cases appealed from district court, he said.

“We let them know we’d be asking for the maximum sentence on convictions,” Merrell said. “All but one dismissed their appeals and that one said he’d probably dismiss his on Monday.”

That left two civil cases on this month’s docket, so the jury term was canceled.