Kraft Jury Composed of 10 Women, 2 Men

The makeup of the jury for the Randy Steven Kraft murder trial changed Wednesday to 10 women and 2 men after the judge agreed to excuse one of the male jurors for hardship reasons. Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin also replaced one of the eight alternate jurors.

The juror and the alternate had asked to be excused after discovering the length of the Kraft trial would cause them problems at their jobs. The regular juror said his company would not pay him for the full length of the trial, which may take up to a year. The alternate said he feared missing a promotion.

After less than half a day of questioning for 35 prospective new jurors, the prosecutors and Kraft’s attorneys agreed on two replacements, both women. The alternate jurors now include seven women and one man.

Kraft, now 43, is charged with 16 murders in Orange County. If he is convicted, prosecutors will introduce the names of 21 other slaying victims they link to Kraft while seeking a death verdict at a penalty phase of the trial.

Testimony is scheduled to begin Monday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown and Kraft attorney C. Thomas McDonald both said Wednesday they are pleased with the makeup of the final jury.

Brown called the jurors all “level-headed people” who would give Kraft a fair trial, yet would listen to the evidence against him.

McDonald, however, has not been pleased at all with the jury selection process. He contends that Judge McCartin should have separated the case into several trials and should have moved it to another county where there has been little publicity about Kraft.

“But given the structure we have to live with, I like all the people we have on the jury,” McDonald said.

Brown said he was not surprised that the two jurors had been replaced so quickly.

“I’m finding Mr. McDonald to be a very reasonable person,” Brown said wryly.

McDonald said there is no particular reason the jury is made up mostly of women.

“The jurors were chosen based upon their answers to our questions, and I really don’t think gender came into it,” McDonald said.

McCartin could have moved one of the alternate jurors to the regular jury, then chosen two new alternates Wednesday. But he replaced a regular juror with someone from the newly assembled panel. Kraft attorney McDonald said all parties agreed to that because no testimony had been taken in the case.

Four of the 12 regular jurors are homemakers. One is an electrician and another is a social worker. One works for Xerox Corp. and the others are in small business. All but one is a registered voter, although the jury pool came from a mix of voter registrations and Department of Motor Vehicle rolls.

All 12 have said in individual interviews with attorneys in the case that it would be possible for them to return a verdict of death in some situations.

The average age is 43--the youngest 25 and the oldest 63. They are:

- Lorna B. Clyde, 62, of Orange.

- Marcia K. Congdon, 34, of Cypress.

- Sandra K. Dyer, 37, of Anaheim.

- Alfred T. Embrey Jr., 56, of Orange.

- Debora A. Garcia, 31, of Anaheim.

- Jane A. Jowdy, 57, of Anaheim.

- Jim E. Lytle, 28, of Garden Grove

- Tracie D. Metzner, 25, of Santa Ana.

- Audrey J. McElheney, 63, of Orange.

- Carol M. Neal, 33, of Tustin.

- Theodora J. Replogle, 50, of Placentia.

- Charleen A. Vershaw, 44, of Brea.

Jowdy was the new juror chosen Wednesday.

The alternate jurors are Sharon L. Bailly and Mary M. Gaedig, both of Huntington Beach, Connie A. Goldfarb of Seal Beach, Evelyn E. Hunt of Orange, Velma McClinton and Barbara A. Smith, both of Placentia, Benito A. Sanchez of Laguna Niguel, and Leslie Wieder of La Habra. Bailly was the new alternate chosen Wednesday.

One minor hitch still remains. Court personnel were unable to locate alternate juror McClinton on Wednesday after a question came up about her legal residence. McCartin took no chances. Another alternate, Patsy Marcantel of Fullerton, was selected as a standby alternate in the event McClinton’s situation is not resolved by Monday morning.