Court Opinion

ID: 9701401
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:18:30.186281+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:23.549109
License: Public Domain

*216COFFEY, J.
(concurring). Two of the most important resources of the judicial system are the time of its judges and the pool of knowledgeable citizens from which jurors are drawn. The jury selection statutes as construed by the majority in this case waste the time of the trial judge in administrative detail. They do not permit initial screening of potential jurors so as to remove the recalcitrant or the obviously unqualified, thereby unnecessarily increasing the court time which must be devoted by the trial judge and lawyers to jury selection.
I agree that jury duty is one of the most important obligations of citizenship. However, we should be realistic enough to acknowledge that persons who are unwilling to serve because of illness, inconvenience or lack of confidence do not make good jurors. The parties to a case are entitled to a jury made up of citizens who are motivated and able to perform their duties.
The increasing complexity of the issues presented to juries in cases such as medical malpractice and products liability today requires more than a minimum “understanding” of the English language on the part of potential jurors. Jurors today must decide cases raising difficult and complicated questions dealing with accounting problems and engineering design. It makes no sense to argue about the nuances of complicated instructions, if we have no assurance that the jurors sitting in the case have the linguistic ability to recognize, comprehend, analyze or understand the same. If they do not, the instructions are an exercise in futility and the parties litigant are not receiving due process of law.
The majority says that jury commissioner Roman Wit-kowiak testified that the commissioners “occasionally sought counsel” from the chief judge while exercising “their own discretion” in excluding persons. Excerpts of his testimony on this point are as follows:
*217“Q. Sir, do you have, in your possession, or do you know of any orders entered by either Chief Judge Sullivan or Chief Judge Manian setting up guidelines as to when you can suggest somebody to be permanently excused?
“A. Yes, I do have. When I saw this questionnaire and saw all the answers on there, the answers on here is what prompts us to either excuse them for a two year period, permanently or to disqualify them; and any of them that were excused permanently or for a two year period, were sent up to the Judge, the Chief Judge. . . .”
“A. ... And we religiously check every questionnaire and don’t excuse a person if we’re not sure, we take it up to the Judge, even until this day.
“Q. Now, in Judge Sullivan’s letter, to your knowledge, are there any guidelines or are there any standards set forth from which you can determine whether a person is excludeable [sic] or excuseable?
“A. Well, we did set up some rules long ago. We don’t follow them because we changed the questionnaire quite a bit. The questionnaire is such now that you can get your answers on every one; and if you look through those, you’ll see that we do not excuse anybody unless he’s on a dead — he died or he’s on a deathbed or he’s unable to walk. But, he’s got to specify it himself. We do not exclude even blind people or people in wheelchairs if they so indicate that disability will not prevent them from serving on a jury. We even put those on a jury. And if we have questions, whatsoever, regarding excusing them permanently, we’ll go to the Chief Judge.”
It is clear that the jury commissioners claim no discretion to exclude any person from jury service who does not answer affirmatively to question six on the jury questionnaire that he or she has disabilities that prevent him or her from serving as a juror. The worst that can be said about the current Milwaukee County practice is that the jury commissioners exercise their discretion to take citizens at their word in making a recommendation to the chief judge.
*218I do not agree with the majority that secs. 756.01 and 756.02, Stats., must be construed so as to place all responsibility for disqualifying a juror on the judge, as well as the responsibility for exempting or excluding the juror. Sec. 756.01(2), Stats., states that a person shall not be exempted, excluded or disqualified from jury service on the ground of infirmity because of a physical condition unless “the judge finds that the person clearly cannot fulfill the responsibilities of a juror.” The judge is not to consider structural limitations in making such a finding. The clear meaning of this provision is that a physical disability as to mobility does not disqualify one from eligibility for jury duty. Any infirmity which is not a physical condition does not fall within the provision. As to those persons, I find the provisions of sec. 756.04(2) (a), Stats., applicable.
“The commissioners shall revise the list by striking from it the names of persons found by them to be ineligible for jury service, as provided in s. 756.01, and add to the list the names of additional persons as provided in s. 756.05.” (emphasis supplied).
I see no need for “guidelines” drawn by the chief judge or “findings of fact” by the jury commissioner recommending exclusion. The twelve examples given by the majority are straightforward. I am confident the judges responsible for granting or denying screening recommendations made by the commissioners are perfectly capable of exercising their well-reasoned judgment in this matter. There is no reason to create more red tape for our citizens than they currently have to deal with. Potential jurors are entitled to fair treatment also. A requirement of documentation such as a letter from a physician to support a request for exclusion causes unnecessary expense and consumption of time of both the doctor and the prospective juror. Further, it tends to suggest an official distrust of the motives of *219our citizens, who are supposed to be the beneficiaries, not the antagonists, of our judicial system. In addition, I see no reason why the court’s directions apply only to the chief judge of Milwaukee County, and not to the chief judges of the other administrative districts. If a Milwaukee County judge draws a jury from another county after a change of venue, are the Milwaukee County rules to be applied? Do not the statutes mandate a unified court system?
I agree with the majority that the decision of the court of appeals should be affirmed. For the reasons expressed, I disagree with the dicta relating to procedures to be followed by the chief judge and the jury commissioners in implementing the court’s construction of ch. 756, Stats. I also recommend to the legislature that the current jury selection statutes, as construed by the majority, be amended so as to permit the common sense, practical approach to the question which has been undertaken in Milwaukee County as disclosed by the record in this case. Further, I suggest that the legislature return to the jury qualification statutes the provision that jurors should be those who are esteemed in their communities to be of good character and sound judgment. The jury commissioners should be given the authority to inquire as to the reputation and character of prospective jurors. The goals of having an intelligent jury represent a cross section of the community and having the citizenry recognize the obligation of jury service can be promoted without subjecting those who are ill or infirm or are senior citizens to the burden of documenting their requests for exclusion by letters from their physicians and without creating the potential for yet another level of bureaucracy to intrude into their privacy under the guise of jury duty for all.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice William G. Callow joins in this concurrence.