Mayor Wraps Up Stint as Prospective Juror

After three days of cameos in Los Angeles’ criminal court building, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was finally excused from jury duty Tuesday, avoiding service on a murder trial that could have tied up city business for weeks.

The mayor spent about 12 working hours as a prospective juror. For two days, he had been assigned to the courtroom of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor, where a jury was being selected for the trial of two men charged with murdering a Willowbrook merchant during a 2002 robbery.

Villaraigosa was obviously impatient to get back to the city’s business, but he also said he hoped that his service showed people how important jury service is.

“What I heard a lot today from people was, ‘You know, if you could do it, I could do it,’ ” he said.

The mayor’s only interaction with the judge and attorneys in the case came during voir dire, the process of questioning prospective jurors to ensure that the jury selected is fair and impartial.

Like dozens of others, the mayor was called upon to disclose some basic personal information, as well as detailed opinions and facts about his past involvement with the justice system.

Seated between a UPS driver and an airline baggage handler, Villaraigosa -- officially known as Juror No. V-7304 for the day -- described himself to the judge as an “elected official” and a married father of four who had previously served on three juries.

He mentioned his well-known 1977 arrest and eventual acquittal on an assault charge, saying that he was “defending” his mother. (Villaraigosa fought with a man who yelled racial slurs and slugged Villaraigosa’s mother outside a restaurant.)

The potential jurors were asked to list personal contacts with police, and some mentioned officers they had known or dated. Villaraigosa said, “I actually have responsibility for the Los Angeles Police Department.”

He was required to disclose groups he belonged to that dealt with gun issues. Villaraigosa stated that he was a former head of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, which lobbies for stricter gun control laws.

Villaraigosa also said he had “issues” with a controversial legal concept prosecutors had applied in the case under consideration known as “felony murder.”

Under California’s felony murder rule, a person can be charged with murder without having intended to kill someone if they caused a death during commission of a serious felony such as robbery. Murder charges can also result for accomplices in such felonies -- even if the accomplices do nothing to directly cause the death. The mayor said it was this latter aspect of the felony murder law that especially concerned him. But he promised to apply the concept in the case if chosen as a juror.

When his turn came for questioning, defense attorney Richard Everett brought up the issue:

“You’re not to determine what the felony murder rule is, but your job is to apply it to the facts of this case if it applies, is that your understanding?”

“Yes,” Villaraigosa said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Danette Meyers asked a number of potential jurors if they would be less likely to apply the felony murder rule now that they’d heard that the mayor had problems with it.

All of the people she asked said they would apply the law as it was explained to them.

After conferring with the attorneys, the judge announced that the mayor was not chosen as a juror or as an alternate. Villaraigosa then hustled off to the elevators.

Somebody asked him if he was going to the 11th floor to pick up his certificate commemorating his service.

“I think I’ll just pick up the certificate later,” he said, smiling.