Opinion ID: 1855709
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Discriminatory jury selection/ defendant's assignment of error number 5

Text: In this assignment of error, defendant argues the jury was impaneled in a discriminatory manner, which resulted in an entirely white jury. Defendant filed a motion to quash the general venire based on this alleged discriminatory impaneling. The record shows a hearing was held on this motion on June 17, 1997. Linda Jones, the jury coordinator for East Baton Rouge Parish, and Kathy Harris, a jury clerk, testified as to the manner in which citizens were called to serve as jurors during the week at issue. Jones testified that the venire is randomly chosen by computer. Her office next estimates the jury needs of all the courts for that day and the appropriate number of jurors is summoned. In the instant case, the prospective jurors were told to report to the central jury pool room, and Harris began walking through the room and handing out panel information sheets to people in the room at 9:00 a.m. Jones specifically testified that the panels were not chosen on a first come, first serve basis, as there was no way of knowing who had first arrived in the room. Rather, Harris simply walked throughout the room, front to back and side to side, giving the sheets to people who were already in the room and people who were arriving in the room; people also approached Harris to receive sheets, and some sheets were passed down aisles. The first 110 people who received sheets comprised panel one, which was the panel from which the jury was chosen in the instant case; the next panel chosen was panel two, and so on. The panel in the instant case dropped to 106 people when it was discovered that 4 of the individuals had reported to the wrong room. The panel was then divided into subpanels; there were 6 sub-panels of 16 people each and one sub-panel of 10 people. This was accomplished through the use of service cards. A card was made for each juror, and Harris then shuffled the cards several times, divided them into two groups, shuffled each group individually, and then combined the two groups and shuffled them a few more times. Harris then laid out the first seven cards in seven stacks and continued laying the cards in stacks until all of the panels were filled. The cards were face down when she was placing them in these stacks. Although potential jurors were still arriving when Harris began to hand out the sheets, both Jones and Harris estimated that 200 people were there at that time, and they had no way of knowing which of these jurors had arrived first. Harris also testified that she did not single out certain people to receive sheets; she simply passed them out, as her job was to ensure that everyone had a sheet. The trial court found that the jury selection was random and denied the motion. Supervisory writs were denied by both the first circuit and this court. State v. McKnight, 97-1355 (La.6/20/97) 695 So.2d 1364; State v. Wessinger, 97-1666 (La.6/23/97); 696 So.2d 982. The fact that we have previously denied supervisory writs does not preclude us from considering this issue in this direct appeal. State v. Fontenot, 550 So.2d 179 (La.1989). However, there is no reason to disturb the trial court's ruling in this appeal. Defendant argues that jurors were selected on a first come, first serve basis; that is, the first jurors to arrive would comprise the panel from which the jury would be selected. Defendant claims that this practice was discriminatory because those jurors who were less affluent, and therefore relied on public transportation, would be less likely to arrive early and, under the Baton Rouge process, less likely to be allowed to serve as jurors. Defendant also asserts that discrimination is shown by the fact that black people were underrepresented in the panel, as only 13 of the 64 jurors called were black, while the population of East Baton Rouge Parish is approximately one-third black. Defendant does not, however, offer any empirical evidence to support his theory, nor does he demonstrate how this method of jury selection discriminates against any certain segment of the community. A general venire, grand jury venire, or petit jury venire shall not be set aside for any reason unless fraud has been practiced, some great wrong committed that would work irreparable injury to the defendant, or unless persons were systematically excluded from the venires solely upon the basis of race. La.C.Cr.P. art. 419. The burden of proving the basis for setting aside the venire rests with defendant, and this burden requires that he show more than underrepresentation of people of a certain race from the venire; rather, he must prove that this underrepresentation is the result of a systematic exclusion of members of a certain race in the source or sources from which jury venires are chosen. State v. Lee, 559 So.2d 1310, 1313 (La.1990). Defendant has not met that burden in this case, for he has not shown that blacks were systematically excluded from the venire. Rather, the evidence adduced at the hearing shows that the venire was selected randomly, and there were no concerted efforts to preclude any segment of the population from serving on the jury. The initial jury pool was chosen by computer. The jury information sheets were distributed randomly to form the panel from which the jury that was to hear defendant's case would be chosen. The jury cards were shuffled several times and then placed, face down, into stacks representing the sub-panels. We cannot say the trial judge erred in finding this process random. This assignment of error thus lacks merit.