Judges Vote to Expand Vista Jury Pool : Superior Court Panel Rejects Proposal for Countywide Selection

A committee of San Diego Superior Court judges voted 4-1 Monday to recommend that jurors called upon to decide cases in the Vista courthouse be summoned from the North County judicial district, rejecting the idea that selecting them from throughout the entire county would result in fairer trials.

The recommendation came in the wake of a state Court of Appeal ruling last month that blacks may not receive fair trials at the Vista Superior Court because juries there do not accurately reflect the racial composition of San Diego County. Currently, jurors in Vista are selected from the 5th Supervisorial District, which is somewhat smaller than the judicial district served by the Vista court.

The executive committee of the San Diego Superior Court had suggested that the racial imbalance be rectified by summoning jurors from all over San Diego County. The committee had said it would wait to hear from the jury committee before making a decision.

Superior Court Judge Jack Levitt, who chairs the judges’ jury committee, said the panel felt that its recommendation would address the problem of racial imbalance. He said juries should reflect the racial makeup of the area that the court serves.

“We are going to recommend to the executive committee that jurors be drawn from the North County area, from the entire area served by the court,” Levitt said.

“The comparison has to be with the community served by the court, just as the Municipal Court district draws jurors from the area it serves.”

The issue was raised by two attorneys for black criminal defendants in unrelated cases who argued that their clients would not receive fair trials in Vista. They wanted the cases moved to San Diego, where there is a greater likelihood that more blacks would sit on the jury.

Only 1.5% of the population of the 5th Supervisorial District is black, while blacks make up 4.5% of the population countywide.