Killer’s Lawyers Allege Bias in Juries’ Selection, Ask List

The Orange County public defender’s office, contending that convicted murderer Marcelinos Ramos cannot receive a fair retrial because Latinos are under-represented on Orange County juries, asked the court administrator Friday to turn over personal information on 36,000 jurors.

The Orange County district attorney and county counsel’s offices joined in Superior Court Friday to back Court Administrator Alan Slater’s objections to the request.

Superior Court Presiding Judge Everett Dickey listened to arguments in the matter for three hours Friday. The hearing will continue July 17.

Slater said it was the first time in his 13 years in the court administration office that any attorney has asked for such a mass list.

In several cases in recent years, defense attorneys have complained to Orange County courts about the lack of black representation on jury panels. But none of those attorneys, Slater said, have gone as far as the public defender’s office in the Ramos case.

‘Jurors’ Right to Privacy’

Slater said he objected because “I do have some concerns about these jurors’ right to privacy.”

Deputy public defenders Joel Baruch and Thomas Havlena contend that Ramos cannot get a fair trial unless the Latino representation on the jury panel is at least 20%, which they say is roughly the Latino percentage of the population in Orange County.

They need Slater’s juror list, they said, to conduct a study to determine if the 20% level is attainable under Slater’s selection methods.

“I can tell you from my experience what that study will show,” Baruch said. “There are very few, if any, (Latinos) on these jury panels.”

Ramos, now 28, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die in the gas chamber for the 1979 execution-style slaying of an employee of a Santa Ana Taco Bell restaurant. His death sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court last year and he faces a retrial in the penalty phase of the case.

Background Could Be Issue

Baruch said it was important for Ramos’ attorneys to have Latinos among the prospective jurors because Ramos’ cultural background could be an issue at his new trial.

The public defender’s office is seeking names, addresses and telephone numbers of jurors who were called for jury duty in March, April and May--about 12,000 each month.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan Nolan said her office might not object to the court ordering Slater to turn over the information if Baruch and Havlena can show that there is reason to believe that Latinos are systematically being excluded from jury duty rolls.

After Friday’s hearing, Nolan said, “I don’t think they’ve shown anything.”

The hearing consisted mostly of Havlena calling Baruch to the witness stand, and Baruch testifying that in some cases in which he has represented Latino defendants, there have not been any Latinos among the prospective jurors. In general, Baruch said of his cases, there was poor representation of Latinos on the juries.

But Nolan and Deputy County Counsel Ed Duran, representing Slater, attacked Baruch’s methodology for deciding how many Latinos were included as prospective jurors.

Questioned on Criteria

Baruch said he was going by Latino surnames and by the appearance of jurors. Baruch said he meant by Latino (he used the term Hispanic) any Mexican who came across the border illegally or Mexican-Americans “of Mexican parentage.”

“Would you look at my name on that jury list and consider me Hispanic?” Duran asked.

Baruch said no.

“What if I told you that a blond, blue-eyed teen-ager, 6-foot-5, named Duran was of Hispanic parentage? And what if I said that was the description of my son?”

It turned out Duran is of Latino descent.

Nolan also criticized Baruch’s interpretation of the results of his own information. Baruch testified that in the past four trials he has been involved in, two trials had 3% Latino representation on the jury, one had about 14% Latino representation and he had no information on the remaining jury. Nolan pointed out that the 1980 census of Orange County shows a 14.5% Latino population.

‘Fair Representation’

“I would say his own information shows that he’s had cases where there was a fair representation,” Nolan said.

Jury panels are drawn in Orange County from driver’s license and voter-registration rolls. But Baruch complained that Slater has discretion on how he goes about putting his panels together.

“For example, if a summons is sent to a Hispanic person, but that person has moved, is there any follow-up to contact that person?” Baruch asked. “I think they (Slater’s office) are stone-walling because they have a weak system and they don’t want to see it attacked.”

Slater said he believes the system his office uses for selecting jurors “is an excellent one.”