Opinion ID: 853071
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overview of the Problem

Text: The problem in Allen County's jury selection procedures may be readily stated in broad overview. The number of jurors needed for 1996 was first identified as 14,000. The program then selected 14,364 registered voters to be assigned a random number. Only persons assigned a number could be drawn for a panel. The assignment stopped after 10,000 voters had received numbers. Because the program worked through the voter list by township in alphabetical order, all of the excluded 4364 registered voters were Wayne Township residents. As a result, 87% of Wayne Township was excluded. This had a materially disproportionate effect on African-Americans because African-Americans comprised 8.5% of the total population of Allen County, and three fourths of that 8.5% resided in Wayne Township. The remainder of this Part I:B explains the details of how this occurred. Its legal implications are addressed in Part C.