Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-10-14


/ PAUL KITCH
Promoted Recordings
ZAP Photo
the purpose Of improving the
jury system.
Prof. Lewis statement con-
ltinued:
1T has the approval Of many
outstanding lawyers. judges and
legal scholars in all parts Of
1.-THE country. including the Hon.
Charles E. Clark. senior judge
OF the Cd Circuit, the presi-
dent, the president-elect and
1--WE Of the living past presidents
Iof the Association Of American
Law Schools; Howard L. Bark
dull. past president Of the Ameri-
Ican Bar Association. and Albert
j. Harno, dean Of the Law
School Of the University Of nli-
nois and president OF the Ameri-
can Judiciary Society. ! very
much hope the American Bar
Association, as the organization
most representative Of the bench
and bar, will make q careful
study Of this subject and Of the
proper role Of basic research In
helping to preserve and strength
en- American institutions"
But in their closing statement
Senators Eastland and Jenner
said the claim that the sanctity
LOT the jury room was violated
only for research purposes was
beside the point.
Poses Threat
I'VE consider it, immaterial
also whether this eayesdropping
on juries was done with the
consent Of judges or lawyers. !"
the Senators added. Perhaps
it could not have been done
$50 readily without such consent.
But that 1t was done at all,
and that 1t has become known.
lis what poses the threat to free
deliberation in all subsequent
cases.
"A juror must know that
within the walls of the jury
room he may speak freely. II his
true and proper function as a
Juror is to be performed. This is
q right which may not be trans
crossed BY either attorneys or
Judges: It rests on q constitu-
|tional guarantee"
Referring to the use Of Ford
Foundation funds for the Jury
research project, the two Sen
ators continued:
THAT q grant Of tax-free dol
lars should have contributed To-
ward undermining freedom of
jury deliberations raises the
question Of what is the funda-
mental purpose Of q foundation.
That the original grant was
augmented by a second grant
two and one-half times as large
after the facts Of what had
been done to invade the privacy
Of juries, had been made known
to ofIlcials Of the Ford Founda-
ton. raises the question Of
whether the foundation has gone
beyond the proper bounds Of any
purposes 1t has the right to
claim"
The testimony was to the
effect that the tape recording Of
"a limited number Of jury cases
in Wichita was approved by
Senior Judge Orrie Phillips Of
the 10th Federal Circuit and
by Judge Delmas c. Hill Of
Wichita.
Took Initiative
Paul Kitch, a Wichita attor-
Iney. told the subcommittee yes
terday that he took the initia-
tive In interesting the University
Iof Chicago Law School in making
the tape recordings as part of
its survey of the jury system
He defended it as one way of
finding out how juries under
stand the legal instructions given
them by judges and how these
instructions may be improved.
He admitted that in the early
stages he thought it might be
necessary to tape record about
500 jury cases. but said this idea
was dropped because Of the cost
factor. He said his estimate of
500 was based on o belief that a
fair sampling would require
about 10 recordings in each of
the IS States.
Listening Approved
The American Civil Liberties
Union. through its Washington
director, Irving Ferman, went on
record yesterday against any in
trusion on the privacy Of jury
rooms. Mr.. Ferman told the SUBJ
committee the jury room should
remain tightly closed forever. /"
There was considerable testi-
mony about the fact that an
edited version Of one Of the Jury
room recordings was played to a
large group Of judges and law
yers at a conference Of the Tenth
Circuit Judges at Estes Park,
Colo. last July. Mr.. Hitch testi-
fed that Judge Phillips who
knew about the project asked
him If arrangements could be
made to bring one of the re-
cordings to Estes Park to let
the judges hear and discuss It.
It was testified that all names
and geographical locations were
edited out Of the tapes to avoid
disclosing identity Of the cases
which had been recorded.