Ito Easily Outfoxed in the Game of Jury Hide-and-Seek

In theory, my assignment should have been all but impossible: penetrate Judge Lance A. Ito’s veil of secrecy and find the latest two jurors to be purged from the O.J. Simpson trial.

In reality, it was easy.

As with the previous departees, their names and addresses were supposed to be hidden from the prying eyes of the media. But it’s the worst-kept secret in town. I’m sure you’ve noticed that television crews just happen to be present for a ceremonial homecoming every time a juror is dismissed.

Simpson jury secrecy has become a joke. After Jeanette Harris’ revealing interview on television station KCAL after her dismissal from the jury, no news director or editor wants to be scooped again. As a result, Judge Ito’s attempts to keep the jurors undercover have fizzled.

*

I began my quest at the jurors’ hotel, a pleasant hostelry whose location I am not supposed to know. I strolled into the lobby looking for television crews or for someone who looked like a juror checking out.

It was late in the morning. The lobby was empty. I lurked around for a while, not wanting to ask questions out of fear someone would report me to Judge Ito. When I couldn’t find any news crews, I left after about half an hour and returned to my office.

There, I talked to a couple of my colleagues who I figured were better informed than I was in this business of jury secrecy. They, of course, had the names and home addresses of the two jurors--Farron Chavarria of Pico Rivera and Willie Cravin, who lives in Carson. Their dismissals had been announced by Ito after court convened, although at that point--early Monday afternoon--Cravin’s fate was still in doubt. The Simpson legal team was appealing his firing to a state appellate court, and the decision to uphold his dismissal didn’t come until late in the afternoon.

You may wonder how my fellow journalists learned the identity of the jurists, the location of their residences and, in the case of one of them, a home phone number. I didn’t ask, because I knew they would follow accepted journalistic practice and refuse to identify their sources.

But with the help of informants, public documents, careful observation and luck, a good reporter can find just about anybody. I assume some or all of these ingredients have gone into the search for jurors.

Anyway, I headed back out to my car and weighed my choice--the Chavarria home in Pico Rivera or Cravin’s house in Carson. The cities are several miles and three freeways apart. If I went to one, it would be tough making it through heavy traffic to the other.

Carson was the best story. Cravin’s dismissal remained in doubt pending the appellate court’s decision. Since he was still technically on the jury, and you’re not supposed to approach seated jurors, I thought the press might stay away. On the other hand, if the media were there, it would show the complete failure of Ito’s secrecy order.

Although it was about three hours before the appellate court would affirm Cravin’s removal, a Times photographer and four TV crews had already arrived at his Carson home by the time I got there. Three were from local stations and one from a tabloid show.

With the action relatively slow in Carson, I decided to head for Pico Rivera for the media circus I suspected was going on at the other juror’s home.

It was easy enough to spot former juror Chavarria’s street. It was a usually peaceful cul-de-sac now crowded with television trucks. A neighbor watching the scene, Kelly McClure, was, by chance, wearing the perfect T-shirt for the occasion, emblazoned with the words “Normal Is Boring.”

Jaime Chavarria, the ex-juror’s brother, was standing on his front porch, watching the scene with amusement. He told me the first TV crews arrived at 8 a.m., three hours before Judge Ito announced his sister’s dismissal.

So much for juror anonymity.

*

I got back in my car and returned to Cravin’s home in Carson to see how things were developing there. The media crew had more than tripled in size since I had been there earlier in the afternoon. The appellate court had upheld Cravin’s dismissal from the jury so there was no longer any legal barrier to ambushing him.

A van stopped across the street from his house, and a man, a woman and children dashed toward Cravin’s front porch, followed by galloping camera crews. We later learned they were Cravin’s relatives.

Soon, the woman backed a car out of Cravin’s garage. Cravin and the woman returned in a while, one sheriff’s car preceding them and another in the rear. The automatic garage door opened, and the car disappeared inside. All we heard was the loud barking of Cravin’s dog.

Cravin, it turned out, wanted to talk to the media. Accompanied by his family, he stood on his front lawn and answered questions for half an hour with intelligence, authority and even some humor.

Judge Ito should have been there. He would have seen his attempt to hide the jurors from the press is not only futile but unnecessary.