Sidebar: jury administration

📄 Sidebar: jury administration — Thursday, October 24, 1996

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\OCT\24\SIDEBAR-JURY-ADMINISTRATION.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 2 of 57

Date: Thursday, October 24, 1996 • Utterances: 11

Judge Fujisaki conferred with counsel about two juror administrative matters: drafting a letter for alternate juror 205 to extend her college leave, and addressing concerns from jurors about whether to return to work during court dark days. The judge expressed concern that jurors who returned to work might face pressure or awkward questioning from coworkers, and said he would look into arrangements to allow them to stay home.

# 1 (The following proceedings were held at the Bench, in the presence of the reporter.)

# 2 THE COURT:

Juror 205, that's the young girl, the alternate, first alternate down here. She's a student at one of the colleges, and she is going to have to extend her leave. She's requested a letter from the Court, so I drafted a letter to send, okay?

# 3 MR. BAKER:

Sure.

# 4 THE COURT:

And the only other thing is, now some of the jurors want to know if they should go back to work or not during the days that we are going to be dark, I mean. They've got to live their lives.

# 5 MR. BAKER:

Got to make money. All I would suggest is that you tell them, Judge, your employer has no obligation to pay when you're not here.

# 6 THE COURT:

I don't think that's the problem. The problem is, they really don't want to go back. Well, they feel they need to go back to work, because they're concerned about the questions they're going to be asked.

# 7 MR. PETROCELLI:

I think it's a valid concern.

# 8 THE COURT:

I'm going to check with our jury people, see what arrangement I can make that they don't have to go back to work. I'd just as soon tell them they don't have to go back to work, just because they would be subjected to obvious pressures. Okay.

# 9 MR. BAKER:

Thank you.

# 10 MR. PETROCELLI:

Thank you.

# 11 THE COURT:

9 o'clock.

Temperature

routine

Key Quotes (2)

Hiroshi Fujisaki

They feel they need to go back to work, because they're concerned about the questions they're going to be asked.

Reveals the judge's awareness that jurors faced social pressure from their normal lives during the high-profile trial.

Hiroshi Fujisaki

I'd just as soon tell them they don't have to go back to work, just because they would be subjected to obvious pressures.

Judge proactively moves to shield jurors from outside influence during dark days.

Notable Exchanges (1)

Robert Baker•Hiroshi Fujisaki

Baker suggested the judge inform jurors their employers have no pay obligation on dark days, but Fujisaki clarified the issue was not pay but rather the social pressure jurors anticipated from coworkers.

practical

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 8003 • 11 utterances

Civil Trial

Department 103