Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Tuesday, May 14, 1996

Page No: 3

Parkin Hails Jury Improvements, but Says Security Lags Due to Lack of Funding

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer/Appellate Courts

Juror service in Los Angeles County is a better experience than it was a year ago, Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Robert Parkin said yesterday.

He added that some improvements are still being implemented while others are lagging for lack of funding.

Parkin made his comments at a press conference called to observe the beginning of Juror Appreciation Week, as proclaimed by the Board of Supervisors. The observance, he noted, comes nearly a year after Presiding Judge Gary Klausner declared the system to be "extremely close to...falling of its own weight" and declared its improvement to be his top priority.

The court is well into execution of the 10-point plan which the presiding judge announced last year, stressing better treatment of jurors and greater accountability of people called for jury duty, Parkin said. The plan was adopted on the recommendation of the Citizens Economy and Efficiency Commission, a county panel which studied the problems for a year.

Parkin cited the establishment of improved telephone services, enabling prospective jurors to get through with questions and requests for postponements or transfers.

While in the past 95 percent of all such calls were never answered, Parkin said, there has been a complete turnaround, with callers able to receive recorded information and 95 percent of those needing to talk to a live person being attended to on the first ring.

Parkin also disclosed that the court has set June 25 for the first of its order to show cause hearings, at which citizens who have failed to answer jury summonses face fines of up to $1,500.

The court is hopeful that no hearings will actually be held that day, the judge said, since all of those served will be able to avoid penalty by appearing for jury duty on a prior date specified in the OSC. He added that no will be able to "buy their way out for $1,500," since those paying fines will still be required to serve.

The judge credited the court's publicized intent to initiate the OSC program as being responsible for a substantial increase in the juror-notice response rate. He pointed to a chart showing that 78 percent of potential jurors have responded during the fiscal year beginning July 1, compared to 63 percent in 1994-95 and 52 percent the year before.

Still to be put into action, Parkin said, is a plan to make service more convenient by allowing venire members to remain "on call" by telephone if not chosen for a jury on the first day of the normal 10-day service period, instead of having to assemble daily at the courthouse.
When called, he said, those jurors will be assigned directly to a courtroom and will not have to wait in an assembly room. The court expects to implement the program before July 1 of next year, Parkin explained.

One area in which the court is lagging, Parkin acknowledged, is improved security.

Jurors are understandably uneasy about serving in facilities where dangerous weapons are being brought in, he said, but inadequate funding has prevented the court from fully implementing its security plan, which includes installation of metal detectors in courthouses which don't already have them.

Besides the press conference, a number of events were held throughout the county yesterday to recognize jurors. Among them was a barbecue hosted by Citrus Municipal Court judges.

While the luncheon at the West Covina courthouse was listed as a public event in a release from the Superior Court's Public Information Office, a METNEWS photographer was barred by a court official from photographing jurors.