February 21, 2009
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Jury of Peers?
I currently have an internship at the District Attorney’s office downtown, where I run errands and deliver court documents, among other things. It is a valuable internship for the “behind-the-scenes” look at how the Santa Barbara Superior Court is run and what the lawyers do to prepare for trial.
What we do when there is downtime, which happens fairly often, is court-watching. We sit in the gallery and watch prelims, trials, and jury selections. One day, I had the chance to watch an opening statement—which I had not seen before—given by one of the D.A.’s in our office. As I sat in the relatively comfortable chairs in the gallery of Dept. 1, listening to one side’s presentation of the facts, I noticed a gaping, racial, divide among the people who were taking part in the proceedings. The jury was composed of what seemed like your typical Santa Barbarian, or Goletian, man or woman. There was one younger man who stood out to me because he could not have been much older than I am. He was white. Among the rest of the people in the jury box, not one was Chicano/a. The Chicano defendant sat fifteen feet away.
The fact that race is a social construct and that the concept of whiteness is really an amalgamation of differences is valid, but here was a man who is entitled to a speedy trial and equal protection under the laws. The Constitution does not specifically enumerate the right to a jury of one’s peers (the words do not appear in the Constitution), but something seemed amiss as I sat there listening, and learning with the jury for the first time what had happened to lead up to this murder trial, and noticing all the while that not one of the people in the jury box came from the same background as the defendant.
The judge, the D.A., and the defense attorney were white, by the way.
Comments (6)
There are a lot of factors to take into consideration for jury selection.
Some Latinos may claim they can't go to jury duty because of work or family obligations.
Others may not be US citizens or aren't fluent in English, which is a necessity if you're a juror.
I love the new xanga layout and pic btw! =)
so everyone was white except for the defendant?
@KingSolomonNY - it seemed so, short of asking the jurors their background
addendum. dang, i just looked up the bio for the judge. he's hispanic. ..fail.
Hi, Christina. Looks like you are enjoying your internship! I would love to read if you continue posting about court proceedings as I have never witnessed a real one before!
Wishing you well.
May
Hello CS,
You made your site simple yet elegant. The video is a nice touch. I see that you have a wide variety of interests and observations here!
I’m sending an important message to people about Jehovah God’s plans for us that is in the Bible. "For God carefully watches the way that people live; he sees everything they do. No darkness is thick enough to hide the wicked from his eyes. For it is not up to mortals to decide when to come before God in judgment. He will openly strike them down for their wickedness. For they turned aside from following him. They have no respect for any of his ways." (Job 34:21-23) (NLT)
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