Size of Panel, Length of Trial Expected to Set Records : 5,000 Prospective Jurors Will Be Called for Kraft Trial

A special panel of 5,000 prospective jurors will be called for the Randy Steven Kraft serial murder trial, expected to begin sometime this summer, Superior Court Administrator Alan Slater said Friday. That is as many jurors as the court normally calls in a month for the rest of its entire calendar.

Slater said it will be the first time in his 16 years with the court that a special panel will be called.

Kraft, 42, a Long Beach computer consultant, is charged with 16 Orange County murders, and prosecutors say they will bring in evidence of an additional 21 murders in both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial.

Because of the number of murders--the most in any murder trial in the state’s history--defense attorneys predict that the trial will last between 18 and 20 months. Slater said that, in his memory, no case in Orange County has ever taken that long.

Slater said it will take an unusually large number of prospective jurors in order to find people who can be available for a trial of that length.

“With a case of this magnitude, we simply would not have enough jurors for our other courtrooms if we tried to include the Kraft case with our normal jury-selection process,” Slater said.

Slater added that he has informed Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin, who will preside, that he will need at least eight weeks’ notice before the trial to prepare a special jury venire.

“Maybe we can do it with 4,000 jurors, maybe it will take 5,500,” Slater said. “But whatever the numbers, we should be able to handle it. It’s going to take a lot of work, but we can do it.”

The Kraft trial date is not yet set. It all depends on the return of Superior Court Judge James K. Turner, who is recovering from quadruple bypass heart surgery.

Turner had to step down as the Kraft trial judge but is scheduled to complete a search warrant hearing in the case that has already lasted for five months. Turner is not due back until May 1 at the earliest. After that, McCartin still must hear a motion by the Kraft attorneys, who want to sever the case into 16 separate trials, one for each of the charges. Prosecutors vigorously oppose that motion.

“I don’t know when the trial can begin,” Slater said. “But whenever it’s going to start, I’m going to need eight weeks’ notice.”