Court Opinion

ID: 9726584
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:58:28.865304+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:28.867657
License: Public Domain

RACANELLI, P. J., Concurring.
Based upon the uncontroverted evidence submitted at the hearing on defendant’s motion challenging the venire, the following appears: Blacks comprised 8.1 percent of the voter-eligible population; of the 225 prospective jurors in the jury pool for the week involved, 5 to 8 (2.2 to 3.56 percent) were black; of the 35 jurors actually summoned for defendant’s trial, only 1 was black (2.86 percent). The parties stipulated that the procedures used by the jury commissioner in the summoning, excusing and deferring of prospective jurors were the same as reflected in People v. Buford (1982) 132 Cal.App.3d 288 [182 Cal.Rptr. 904]. However it was further shown that the number of prospective jurors excused and deferred (for a period up to 90 days) was considerably lower than that disclosed in Buford. Apart from the minor variance in the racial percentages of the summoned panels, the record is factually indistinguishable from that in People v. Jones (1984) 151 Cal.App.3d 1029 [199 Cal.Rptr. 185] (hg. den. Apr. 18, 1984) in which this court found no constitutional impediment. Accordingly, I concur in the result reached herein but again reiterate my reservation concerning the seemingly chronic appearance of unrepresentative criminal juries in Contra Costa County. (See id., 151 Cal.App.3d at p. 1033.)
A petition for a rehearing was denied October 25, 1984, and appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied November 21, 1984. Broussard, J., Reynoso, J., and Grodin, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.