Panel Jury-Rigged by the Judge

When the juror pool ran low in Cumberland County Superior Court in Fayetteville, N.C., a judge dispatched deputies to shopping centers, restaurants, groceries and parking lots to pick a panel of prospective peers. “I was sitting in the yard when a sheriff’s deputy came up and asked if I was in a good mood,” Cheryl Mitchell said. “I said yes and he said, ‘I’m looking for 25 jurors by 2:30.’ ” Judge Anthony Brannon invoked a rarely used state law to find emergency jurors when only 13 of 49 regular jurors were still available to hear a breaking-and-entering trial. He did not think that was enough, so he ordered deputies to seek out 40 people who looked like good citizens. Vicky Doeing, a legal assistant, and Juan Hirajeta, a private investigator, thought the deputy was joking. “He told us we had to show up for court or else. It turned out it was for real,” Hirajeta said. Despite the roundup, none of the citizens heard a case. As jury selection began in Brannon’s courtroom, a jury reached a verdict in a driving-while-impaired case and lawyers settled a civil suit out of court, freeing regular jurors to hear other cases.

--The plaintiff cried foul, but the verdict went in favor of the fowl. A federal appeals court in St. Louis ruled that Cleveland Indians pitcher Don Schulze is not entitled to damages for injuries he claims to have suffered in a collision with the San Diego Chicken. Schulze said he suffered a separated left shoulder when the Chicken, portrayed by Ted Giannoulas, grabbed him as he was rounding third base in a June, 1981, exhibition game in Davenport, Iowa, and both men fell to the ground. Giannoulas’ attorney argued that the fall occurred after Schulze stepped on the entertainer’s giant webbed feet. A jury ruled in favor of the Chicken and a three-judge panel of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of appeals upheld the verdict. Schulze had asked for $2 million in damages.

--Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald had open-heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and is making “good progress” in her recovery, hospital spokesman Ron Wise said. He said the 68-year-old entertainer, who has a history of heart problems, was admitted to the facility on Aug. 19. “She is making good progress and is improving steadily,” Wise said.

--Comedian Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in the movie “The Color Purple,” married cinematographer David Claessen in a Las Vegas ceremony this week, her publicist, Nan Leonard, said. Goldberg, who is presently working on a movie titled “Burglar,” has a 12-year-old daughter by a previous marriage.