New Grand Jury Offered Pointers : Law: A Latino activist group calls attention to ‘flaws’ of previous panels and asks those sworn in today to be ‘impartial, courageous and diligent.’

Members of the incoming Orange County Grand Jury, who will be sworn in today, have received a letter from a Latino activist group accusing the past two panels of being unfair to minorities and demanding sensitivity.

Los Amigos of Orange County, a group of about 60 Latino educators, business leaders, community activists and professionals who meet weekly, said it wrote the letter to call attention to the past panels’ “flaws” and encourage the new jurors to be “impartial, diligent and courageous.”

The current grand jury was criticized by Latino groups when it released a report that overstated the number of illegal immigrants in the county’s jails, and the previous panel came under attack when it drafted a report that blamed immigrants for a variety of social ills while seeking a three-year moratorium on immigration.

“Whether absence of diligence, impartiality, courage or judgment . . . (is) behind it, the grand jury’s performance leaves an impression of inattentiveness, lack of balance and irresponsible operations that fail even the test of routine courtesy,” Los Amigos Chairman Amin David said. “We hope the next and future panels can do better.”

Some of the 19 incoming jurors said they received the letter in a package last week.

One of them, Mary Evelyn Bryden, said she had not read the two controversial grand jury reports, but she did read the Los Amigos mail.

Bryden refused to comment further.

Another incoming juror, Seth M. Oberg, said the Los Amigos literature was the first he has received from any organized group. He said past grand jurors routinely received letters from dozens of groups and that he expects the tradition to continue.

“I appreciate the input,” Oberg said. “But it will not sway my position when I serve in the office. I’m treating the package as documents supplied by a lobbying group. I’ll take it, distill it and digest it, but I won’t be influenced by it.”

The letter by Los Amigos read in part: “. . . Examination of the last two grand juries convinces us neither has been outstandingly useful, adequately independent or courageously fair.”

The letter was part of a package that responded to the grand jury’s June 7 report on jail overcrowding and a 1992-93 grand jury report titled “Impact of Immigration on the County of Orange.”

The June 7 report called for a task force to study the impact of non-citizen felons on the county jail system and sought the transfer of those inmates to federal prisons or reimbursement from the federal government for their incarceration. It also recommended that the county Board of Supervisors promote legislation requiring law enforcement officers to ask inmates about their citizenship status.

The report incorrectly said that 27% of the inmates were illegal immigrants. Officials estimate the number of illegal immigrants in Orange County jails is closer to 12% to 15%.

David said the report only fuels an anti-immigrant hysteria that has been created over the past year by politicians throughout the state.

“We don’t want this to happen again,” he said.

The 1992-93 grand jury report called for a three-year moratorium on immigration nationwide and linked illegal immigration to a host of the county’s social and economic problems.

Los Amigos cited that report as another example where immigrants were used as scapegoats.

David said Los Amigos mailed the packages to offer the new grand jurors its insights and services for when they attempt to address issues regarding immigration.

“We want the 1994-95 grand jury to see what happened these past two years with the past grand juries,” he said. “We’re hoping they will learn from the past so that they can make impartial, courageous and diligent pronouncements.”