Policy, a Result of Budget Cuts, Takes Some by Surprise : Free Parking Ends for Federal Jurors

Federal jurors in Los Angeles were told by court officials Tuesday that they will have to pay for their own parking in the downtown area while serving on civil and criminal cases in the U.S. Courthouse.

In the near future, they will have to eat cheaper lunches during their deliberations, too.

The change in federal court policy took effect immediately Tuesday, and some jurors who were short on cash had to borrow money from other jurors just to get home. In at least one case, a federal judge loaned a juror $5 to get his car out of a downtown parking garage.

The policy changes are part of a nationwide cut in the budget of the federal judiciary ordered to take effect immediately by the administrative office of the U.S. Courts in Washington.

Also mandated was a 10% cut in the fees paid to court-appointed lawyers and private investigators hired by the courts for indigent defendants.

While judges and lawyers generally protested the cutbacks, they were most concerned with the economic problem posed to low-income jurors already sitting on criminal and civil cases in Los Angeles.

“It’s the cheapest thing the government has done since President Carter turned off the hot water in Washington,” said one critic of the move, speaking anonymously.

The U.S. Judicial Conference in Washington said it ordered the nationwide, across-the-board cutback to “meet the requirements” of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Reduction Act of 1985, also known as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.

A spokesman for the Judicial Conference, Dewey Heising, said the edict was transmitted to courts nationwide on March 13. “It’s a direct outgrowth of Gramm-Rudman. We had to find some savings.”

Heising said the changes will have no other impact on federal juries unless supplemental funding--already approved by congressional committees--fails to win full approval by Congress before July.

“If we don’t get that, we would have to terminate several jury trials . . . civil cases . . . by July,” Heising said. “We hope that won’t happen.” In Los Angeles, the chief clerk of the district court, Leonard Brosnan, estimated that the government paid about $115,000 for parking fees for about 23,000 trial jurors and 4,000 federal grand jurors in the last year.

Both prosecutors and defense lawyers said the economic impact of the cut on jurors would be felt most by those serving on major cases, such as the current espionage retrial of former FBI Agent Richard W. Miller, expected to last another two months.

Until now, federal jurors have parked in an underground garage at the Los Angeles Mall across from the U.S. Courthouse. Their $5-a-day parking tickets have been validated by the court clerk each day.

News Taken Well by Jurors

In the Miller trial, the news that the free parking was over was taken relatively well by the jurors, but not by the defense, the prosecution or by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon.

The parking issue provided one of the few moments in the Miller trial where both the defense and the prosecution agreed, asking Kenyon to poll the jurors today to see if the policy shift will be a hardship for any of the jurors.

Defense lawyer Joel Levine was joined by U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner in making the request to Kenyon.

“The government shouldn’t be blamed, at least not the U.S. attorney’s office,” said Bonner. “The blame should go to Congress.”

Agreeing to present the issue to the jury again today and ask about the impact, Kenyon noted that there was widespread unhappiness throughout the U.S. Courthouse over the orders from Washington.

“You just can’t believe the problems this is causing,” he said. “Somebody will sue them, I’ll bet you.”

Some Taken by Surprise

Elsewhere in the courthouse, the news took many judges and other court officials by surprise. Other judges said some jurors were angered because the policy shift was applied to jurors who had been told earlier that they would be paid for their parking.

“From a public relations standpoint, it’s really bad,” said U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, the newest judge in the courthouse, who had just broken the news to his first jury.

“They should at least have staggered the implementation of this instead of making it immediately effective for jurors already serving,” said Tevrizian. “It’s just poor planning.”

The policy change found Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real out of town attending a judicial conference in Monterey. Contacted there, Real said he was upset, but thought there was little that could be done.

“It is crazy to make a cut across the board without considering what it is that’s being cut,” he said. “The jurors are the least affected (by the cuts), but they bother everybody the most because the rest of us are used to it.”

Judge Loaned Juror $5

As acting chief judge, Matthew Byrne Jr. not only joined the protest but loaned $5 to a juror in a civil trial so he could pay his parking fee.

“We’re not pleased with the prospect of jurors paying for their parking to perform their civic duties,” Byrne said.

“I intend to find out if there is any space available where we can provide free parking. There is also an appeal process available, and we may explore that to see if we can make an exception for Los Angeles.”

Also protesting the change was Federal Public Defender Peter Horstman, who noted that it would make it even more difficult for jurors in lower socioeconomic brackets to be part of the jury system.

“I don’t think anyone’s happy about it,” he said. “Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the nation, and parking is particularly expensive and hard to find here. All the agencies in the building are joining to try to get an exception made for Los Angeles.”

While they will have to pay for parking, federal jurors will still be paid $30 a day for jury service, officials said. That compares to $10 a day for state trial jurors, who are provided free parking in downtown Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Times staff writer Eric Malnic contributed to this story.