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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-JURY-1992 64/0.22.92 P SJ Jury Selection Sub-committee, Mayor' s Task Force on Police- Minority Relations Meeting June 17, 1992 Present : Charles Guttman, Nick Celia , Irene Stein Absent : Benj . Darden, Jim Kerrigan, Marilyn Ray, Lillie Tucker Minutes : Purpose of Sub-committee : To broaden the lists from which jury selection is made to include minorities , renters , low income individuals . Objectives : to understand current laws and implementation procedures . to brainstorm addditional ideas for broadening the jury selection lists . to make recommendations to Task Force . Assignments : Guttman will prepare and circulate to committee in advance of next meeting a summary of current law and regulations concerning jury selection . Benj . Darden will prepare and circulate to committee to committee in advance of next meeting some ideas for broadening the selection lists . Jim Kerrigan will determine the actual way the draw is made and whether or not it takes place in public . He will also determine the lists currently in use . Jim will circulate this information to the committee in advance of the next meeting Marilyn Ray will determine what progress , if any, has been made on the jury selectio 1p issue b the recent committee established by the irculats eii o to the committee in advance of the next meeting. Nick Celia will call all members about their assignments and the date of the next meeting, which is THURSDAY, JULY 2 , 7 : 30 P.M. , CITY ATTORNEY' S OFFICE, 4TH FLOOR, CITY HALL . • • Co � �n f Rf C1 V€0J10 6 11 ,S. I rr1T.TTfl I ,°0RAW " CITY OF ITHACA 106 EAST GREEN STREET ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 OFFICE OF TELEPHONE: (607)274-6504 CITY ATTORNEY FAX: (607)272-7348 June 18, 1992 Jury Selection Sub-committee Dear Sir/Madam: I have been asked to report to the Subcommittee regarding the laws which govern the selection of jurors. This subject is covered by Article 16 of the Judiciary Law. I am enclosing a copy of that Article for your reference. Section 500 of the Judiciary Law states that it is the policy of New York State that jurors be selected at random from a cross- section of the community in the county or other governmental subdivision wherein the court convenes and that all eligible citizens shall have the opportunity to serve on juries and shall have an obligation to serve when summoned unless exempted, disqualified or excused. Section 502 establishes the office of commissioner of jurors who is responsible for taking any necessary steps to enforce the laws and rules relating to the drawing, selection, summoning and impanelling. Section 503 establishes a county jury board which includes a justice of the Supreme Court residing in the county, a judge of the county court, and a member of the county legislature. Section 504 then provides that the county jury board shall appoint the Commissioner of Jurors for a term of four (4) years and that the county jury board may appoint the county clerk or other county officer or employee to serve as commissioner of jurors. Section 506 of the Judiciary Law governs the source of names for prospective jurors. It provides that the "commissioner of jurors shall cause the name of prospective jurors to be selected at random from the voter registration list, and from such other available lists of the county as a chief administrator of the courts shall specify, such as lists of utility subscribers, licensed operators of motor vehicles, registered owners of motor vehicles, state and local tax payers, and persons who have volunteered to serve as jurors by filing with the commissioner their names and places of residence." "An Equal Opportunity Employer with an Affirmative Action Program" 0 Recycled Paper F. Section 697(e) of the Tax Law provides generally for confidentiality of tax information. However, Subdivision 3 of that section specifically provides that nothing in that section shall be construed to prohibit the delivery by the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance to a Commissioner of Jurors a mailing list of individuals to whom income tax forms are mailed provided that such delivery shall only be made pursuant to the order of the chief administrator of the courts; that no such order may be issued unless the chief administrator is satisfied that such mailing list is needed to compile a proper list of prospective jurors for the county and that in view of the responsibilities imposed on the Department of Taxation and Finance it is reasonable to require the commissioner of taxation of finance to furnish such lists; and that such lists shall be used for the sole purpose of compiling a list of prospective jurors and that the commissioner of jurors shall take all necessary steps to insure that the list is kept confidential. Section 507 of the Judiciary Law governs the manner in which the commissioner of jurors selects the names of prospective jurors. It states that they shall be selected at random from the sources provided in Section 506 and that the selection may be accomplished by mechanical means or by any other method designed to implement the purposes of Article 16 . Sections 509, 510, 511, 512 govern the qualifications, disqualifications and exemptions of jurors. With regard to city courts, Section 1306 of the Uniform City Court Act governs jury terms and provides that all provisions of law applicable to trial jurors and supreme court shall apply as nearly as possible in city court. It is my understanding that the jury commissioner compiles the county list of jurors and that when a jury list is needed for city court the county list is sorted by municipality to come up with a shorter list of city court prospective jurors. Very truly you s, 7/_/7/2ZAJ -/Z--)-6 )//) Charles Guttman City Attorney Enclosure cc: Mayor Benjamin Nichols �� THE FINGER LAKES LAW SOCIAL POLICY CENT EDP� . 06 1992 96 Besemer Road Ithaca. New York 14850 (607) 539-7778 Marilyn L. Ray. Ph.D. Carol Bohmer. LLM.. PhD. Director of Policy and Program JUN 2 9 \992 Director of Legal(Studies Planning and Evaluation MEMO TO: Members of the Jury Selection Sub-committee, Mayor's Task Force on Police-Minority Relations FROM: Marilyn Ray lt- SUBJECT: 1) Response to my assignment as contained in the minutes of the June 17th meeting of the sub-committee, and 2) a suggestion for consideration DATE: June 23, 1992 1) Sometime this spring, Mr. Seldin, president of the TC Bar Association, requested the Judiciary Committee investigate jury selection practices in Tompkins County and report their findings to him before the end of June. Mr. Seldin informs me that he will forward a copy of the report to me when he receives it. As soon as I receive it, I will forward a copy to the sub- committee for circulation. The Judiciary Committee is comprised of Anna Holmberg, Jack Kelleher, Wes McDermott, and Ingrid Olsen-Tjensvold. 2) Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the first meeting of our sub- committee and will be out of town for the meeting scheduled for July 2nd. , Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to make the following suggestion for consideration by the sub-committee. . In order to ensure jury pools contain minority community members in proportion to their representation in the total population of the county, Monroe County has devised a stratified random selection system in which that proportion of names are drawn into each pool from zip codes where the majority of minority people live. As I understand it, this system has withstood challenges. It would seem a relatively easy matter to devise a similar system for Tompkins County using voting districts to stratify the pool. Similarly, many, if not most, low income and disenfranchised peoples have utilities registered in their names. Adding utilities lists to the lists from which pools are currently drawn would increase the representation of people not now included in pools. I believe instituting these two changes would go a long way toward improving our jury selection system, though certainly not make it perfect. It is my understanding that the Judiciary Committee was unaware of the Monroe County system and did not consider it during their review. , ISej Minutes of the Jury Selection Subcommittee July 2 , 1992 Present : Ben Darden, Chuck Guttman, Jim Kerrigan , Irene Stein Excused: Nick Celia, Marilyn Ray 1 . Chuck Guttman furnished the committee with a summary of the • laws which govern the selection of jurors (see attached) . He enclosed a copy of Article 16 of the Judicial Law which covered this material . 2 . Jim Kerrigan furnished the committee with a description of the existing jury selection procedures in Tompkins County (see attached) . 3 . Ben Darden discussed with the committee some of the problems relating to policies and procedural change in the long run . 4 . Marilyn Ray circulated her report in which she stated that she would be receiving a report from the Judiciary Committee of the Bar Association . She also raised in her material (see attached) the notion of stratifying the jury selection lists so that one stratum might be a minority neighborhood. The committee discussed all this material . Chuck Guttman and Jim Kerrigan will circulate before the next meeting their ideas About what can be done in the short run to make the jury pools more representative; Ben Darden will circulate his ideas about long- range changes that should be considered. The next meeting will be Friday, 12 : 15 at the Asiatic Restaurant , W. State Street . JULY 17 JAMES M. KERRIGAN RcE vF0 ftt; o 1943 Attorney 200 East Buffalo Street P. 0. Box 6434 Ithaca, New York 14851 607-272-1400 James M. Kerrigan Richard M. Wallace July 2, 1992 MEMO TO: Members of the Jury Selection Sub-committee, Mayor's Task Force on Police-Minority Relations FROM: James M. Kerrigan SUBJECT: Existing Jury Selection Procedures DATE: July 2, 1992 1. Please accept my apologies for having missed the original meeting of the Committee. I promise that I will never miss another meeting as long as the Committee schedules no further meetings on the eve of my 50th birthday. 2. I may be late this evening since I have a couple of Court appearances. 3. I have met with Nancy Joch, the County Court Clerk and Tompkins County Jury Commissioner in regard to existing procedures. The computer lists are maintained in Elmira and Albany. The sources of the lists are the most recent voter registration lists available, a new one was sent within the last six to eight weeks and that was probably a list effective as of 1992. In addition, a computer tape is generated, I believe in Albany, with the Department of Motor Vehicles. Relatively up-to-date lists are used so that new names are added. However, the Department of Motor Vehicles does not purge its lists very frequently if at all. That's a partial explanation for the fact that occasionally jurors who have passed away many years ago are called and a partial explanation for the fact that on jury selection many jurors indicate that they have not lived at the address provided to the lawyers for the jurors for many years. In addition a New York State Income Tax, Department of Taxation computer tape is used which reflects taxpayers who file income taxes who indicate Tompkins County as their county of residence. Occasionally, people who volunteer are also added to the list although I am not quite sure of the mechanics of this. When someone volunteers they are supposed to be given a jury questionnaire. The first step is to mail out substantial numbers of jury questionnaires. I believe, but I am not sure, that these are mailed from Albany. It appears that the response rate may be significantly below 50%. Upon the return of the jury questionnaire they are reviewed for qualifications and if qualified are placed in what is apparently a new computer tape of qualified jurors who have completed the jury questionnaire. It is this questionnaire, after being entered into the computer, which generates the jury notification list. In addition, apparently many jurors call the Jury Commissioner's Office upon receipt of a Jury Summons requesting to be excused. Many such applications are granted by deferring jury service. Interestingly many students are treated as though they were self-employed individuals and entitled not to serve. The analysis is that many students between papers and exams, etc. should not serve. One additional comment that did come up related to the use of jury selection and utility bills. Nancy indicated that apparently Suffolk County attempted to use utility bills. They found it was not particularly effective. They found that insofar as apartment tenants are concerned that many utility bills are maintained in the landlord's name since the landlord doesn't wish to run the risk of having the power shut off and the pipes freeze, etc. In addition apparently Suffolk's experience indicated that the yield was not particularly significant. For example, even in an apparently small percentage of Suffolk County areas where utilities were in the tenant's name it was discovered that there might be four adult residents of an apartment house and the utility bill would have, of course, only be in one person's name. Please accept my apologies for the fact that this was not circulated in advance as I had hoped. I would like to thank Nancy Joch for a very cordial reception and complete willingness to share in the appropriate information with the Committee. , Meeting of Jury Selection Subcommittee Minutes of Meeting of August 5 , 1992 Present : Ben Darden, Chuck Guttman, Irene Stein Excused: Marilyn Ray 1 . Jim Kerrigan has resigned from the Committee , 2 . The Committee finalized its recommendations . They will consist of : a . Adding to the lists of names used for jury ' selection, the names of NYSEG customers , Headstart and public school systems parents and Public assistance/Food Stamp clients . If any of the latter lists , are not legally available to the public , making them available for this purpose will be addressed below. b . Whenever names are drawn from the total list (s) , the list should be divided into two strata : one which will include the names of all residents of streets in the election districts which will compose the Second Ward of the City of Ithaca as of the effective redistricting date , January 1 , 1993; the other, to include all other county residents . Names should be drawn from each stratum in proportion to its peracentage of total county population . This will ensure that minorities 'are consistently , chosen in proportion to their percentage of County population . 3 . The procedures in relation to the jury questionnaire should be changed so that all those who do not return the questionnaire will be automatically placed on the jury list , and this should be made clear on the questionnaire . 4 . Our State Legislators should be contacted to submit legislation which will make these procedures mandatory across the State . To the extent that any of the lists of names in 1 a . are not public information, legislation should permit their being made available for the purposes of jury selection . Chuck will prepare a rough draft of the recommendations for the final report ; Irene will write a paragraph on the sampling recommendation; Ben will submit language for the intgroduction/conclusion of the report . The next meeting will be Wednesday , August 12 , 7 : 30 p .m. at Chuck' s City Hall office . • I F.. ¢' Cji 1 � II L iTIDI CITY OF ITHACA 108 EAST GREEN STREET ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 OFFICE OF TELEPHONE: 274-6501 MAYOR CODE 607 December 2, 1992 Mr.William Seldin,Esq. President,Tompkins County Bar Association 405 North Tioga Street Ithaca NY 14850 Dear Mr. Seldin: I thought this report would be of interest to you. Please circulate it to other Association members as you think appropriate. I would be interested in your reactions. Please call me with any questions(272-3167). Sincerely, I e 1 ' Irene W. Stein Chair,Jury Selection Subcommittee Task Force on Police-Community Relations IWS/ta Report and Recommendations of the Committee on Jury Selection The Committee on Jury Selection has reviewed the law and current practice regarding the preparation of the lists of prospective jurors and the manner in which prospective jurors are selected from those lists. The Committee sees several problems that currently exist. As a result of these problems the pool at a trial of prospective jurors does not adequately reflect a cross-; section of the community. The creation of a pool of prospective jurors is a multi-step process. Originally a master list is created. This list currently includes registered voters, motor vehicle lists, income tax payers . and people who volunteer to be on jury lists. The Committee believes that this original master list should be as inclusive as possible and believes that at present a significant number of people, and in particular, certain classes of the population .. specifically lower income and/or minorities, are systematically under-represented on this master list. The Committee recommends that the original master list of prospective jurors referred to in Section 506 of the Judiciary Law be made up of not only the lists which are currently used but also additional lists including but not limited to names of parents and guardians of school children obtained from the school district; names of students over the age of eighteen (18) obtained from the school district and local colleges and universities; lists of people paying utility bills; and such other lists as the Commissioner of Jurors may be able to obtain. In particular, the Commissioner of Jurors should also attempt to obtain a list of individuals obtaining unemployment and social services benefits. The next step in creating the pool of prospective jurors is to mail out jury questionnaires . The Committee recommends that the Jury Commissioner shall make sure that all persons on the master list of prospective jurors is mailed a jury questionnaire. Currently, anyone who does not return the questionnaire is eliminated from the pool of prospective jurors. A problem is that the response rate to the questionnaires is significantly below fifty percent ( 50%) . Section 509 of the Judiciary Law provides that the person to whom the questionnaire is mailed shall complete and sign it and return it to the Commissioner. The Committee recommends that the questionnaire be sent with a covering letter emphasizing the legal obligation of the person who receives the questionnaire to complete it and return it. The Commissioner of Jurors then prepares a jury notification , list. Currently, anyone who does not return the questionnaire is left off the jury notification list. The Committee recommends that 7 (Appendix B) • the practice be reversed and that anyone who does not return the qualification questionnaire instead of being left off the jury . notification list is, instead, put on the jury notification list. It is, of course, possible or probable that some of these individuals would not be qualified jurors. The Committee does not see this as an insurmountable problem. When a • jury is to be selected persons are currently notified that they are to appear in court. A procedure could be developed where people who have returned the qualification questionnaire are directed to appear in court shortly before the court session and individuals who have not previously filled out the qualification questionnaire and whose names are selected from the expanded jury notification list could be summoned to appear an earlier time that day. The Commissioner would then examine those persons to see if they qualify. If they do not, they would be sent home. If they qualified, they would remain in court to possibly be selected on a jury. The Committee believes that certain classes of the population, specifically lower income and/or minorities have systematically been excluded from the jury system. In particular, black residents are under-represented in the pool of jurors. The Committee recommends that in order to insure that black residents be included in the pool in proportion to their percentage of the County population, the lists of jurors called should be divided into two strata, one stratum to consist of all those living at the addresses within the election districts of the Second Ward of the City of Ithaca as of January 1, 1993; the other stratum being all those at all remaining addresses. Names should be drawn from these two strata in proportion to their fraction of the total county population. Since a significant portion of the County' s black population resides in the aforementioned Second Ward election district, selection from the stratum in proportion to its percentage of the total County population is the best way to insure that the drawn pool will consistently contain names of black residents in proportion to their percentage of the population. This procedure will have to be reviewed and-modified after receipt of each census report. The Committee further recommends that an analogous procedure should be established and used for the selection of juries in the City of Ithaca. Pursuant to Section 517 of the Judiciary Law, the Commissioner of Jurors has the discretion, on the application of a prospective juror who has been summoned to attend, to excuse that juror from jury service or to postpone the time of jury service. The Commissioner of Jurors is currently given that authority provided in Section 517 . However, it is unclear whether this authority is administered under specific guidelines or standards . The Committee recommends that specific written standards and guidelines be developed under which the Commissioner of Jurors would exercise her authority pursuant to Section 517 to grant excuses or postponements to jurors. S (_Appendix B) The Committee further recommends that there be established a program of public education regarding the importance of service on juries and how the jury system works. The Committee believes that all the above recommendations could be put in place in a relatively short period of time without additional authority from the federal or state governments. The Committee believes that additional steps should be taken which we realize will require state and federal action. In particular, the Committee recommends: 1. That the procedures set forth above be set into state law as legal requirements; and, 2. That appropriate legislation be passed to provide that lists of individuals receiving unemployment benefits, social services and medicaid benefits be made available to the Commissioner of Jurors for use by the Commissioner of Jurors in selecting the lists of prospective jurors. August 13 , 1992 9 (:Appendix B