The State - News from Aug. 11, 1989

A mistrial was declared in a South Lake Tahoe drunk driving trial after a reluctant juror was led handcuffed by deputies to the jury box. The woman was arrested after she refused to identify herself and walked way from deputies who were trying to round up prospective jurors at a local post office. She was later admonished and released. Court Commissioner Mel Beverly had instructed El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies to go to the post office to get potential jurors at random after noticing a prospective jury pool for the DUI trial was too small. “As always, many people requested to be excuses and the pool of prospective jurors was exhausted,” said Municipal Judge Eugene Rasmussen. “As a judge, you have the obligation to proceed with the trial.”