From Bench to Box Municipal Judge Answers Call to Weigh Civil Case as a Juror, Not a Jurist

Like everyone else who votes or carries a driver’s license, Municipal Judge Richard W. Stanford Jr.’s number came up Monday. The Orange County judge was called for jury duty.

It was a first for Stanford, who has heard hundreds of cases argued in his 11 years on the bench, but had never served on a jury. To the judge’s surprise, he was chosen to sit on a panel hearing a civil case involving a slip-and-fall injury during a tour in Mexico.

The trial is expected to last until Thursday or Friday.

“I can’t believe nobody kicked me off,” Stanford said.

With 500 other Orange County residents, Stanford showed up at 8 a.m. at the jury assembly room in the Santa Ana courthouse, and had his bright blue juror badge scanned into the computer.

After viewing an introductory film about jury service, Stanford delivered a short speech on the virtue of jury service to those who were summoned for duty.

“We have a wide variety of entertainment for you today if you get sent out” to serve, Stanford told his fellow prospective jurors. “You may think, ‘Poor me, I got selected for jury duty.’

“But the only statutory exemptions to [serving] are peace officers, convicted felons and persons who are not citizens,” the judge continued. “Everybody gets jury duty, not just some.”

Unlike those who had to wait around for their names to be called, Stanford was allowed to resume hearing cases in his courtroom until he was selected for a panel.

Any resident who has a driver’s license or is a registered voter is eligible for jury service. If selected to hear a case, the term of service lasts as long as the trial does.

In Orange County, if a person is summoned but not selected to a panel by the end of the first day, then jury service is complete for a year.

Ignoring a summons can result in a contempt of court citation and $1,000 fine. About one-quarter of those summoned fail to appear, said Sandra Vale, manager of jury services.

For serving, jurors receive a nominal $5 a day plus 15 cents a mile for the cost of driving to the courthouse. For those whose employers don’t reimburse jury duty, the lost wages can be a significant hardship, Stanford said, and, in some severe cases, a reason to be dismissed.

Orange County’s need for jurors is prodigious. On some days, especially when death penalty murder trials are to be heard, 1,100 people may be called.

“We summon about 600,000 people a year,” Vale said. “Of those, about 25% serve.”

In Superior Court, where judges hear all criminal felony trials and civil cases involving amounts greater than $25,000, criminal jury trials have increased by 56% since 1991-92. In actual numbers, criminal trials have risen from 271 to 422 in 1994-95. In the same period, the number of civil jury trials have increased by 46%, from 335 to 489 in 1994-95.

Municipal Court judges hear all misdemeanor cases and civil disputes involving less than $25,000. In 1993-94, there were 430 criminal and 128 civil trials in Orange County’s five municipal courts, and in 1994-95, there were 447 criminal and 164 civil trials, according to the Judicial Counsel’s Annual Data Reference.

Despite the need for jurors, Stanford said, “there are some people you will never convince to serve.”

“Occasionally you’ll find one of these guys that just says, ‘I think this system stinks, and I won’t follow the law,’ ” Stanford said.

“Everybody would rather be somewhere else,” Stanford said. “But that’s not really the question. Without people to serve, the system doesn’t work.”