Minorities Lacking on Grand Jury

Efforts to recruit Latinos, Asians and other ethnic minorities to the Orange County Grand Jury have sputtered this year, leaving court officials with an all-too-familiar problem: a panel made up of older white people.

All 19 panelists on this year’s grand jury, as well as the 11 alternates, are white. Three-quarters are older than 60. Compare that with Orange County’s general population, which is 30% Latino, 13.2% Asian and has a median age of 33.

The situation troubles community activists and top court officials.

“It’s unconscionable that a county, especially with our Hispanic population, does not have an Hispanic on its grand jury,” said Orange County Superior Court Judge C. Robert Jameson, who is in charge of recruiting prospective jurors for next year’s panel.

Three years ago, minorities made up more than a third of the 19-member grand jury. But gains made in the mid-1990s quickly eroded.

Two years ago, only one Asian American and no Latinos were selected for the panel.

“The grand jury is one of those forms of county government that looks and flies like a butterfly,” said Arturo Montez, county civil rights director for the League of United Latin American Citizens in Santa Ana. “But it has had a reverse metamorphosis, going back into a cocoon.”

Court officials say they are not trying to exclude minorities, who must be U.S. citizens to serve. Just the opposite, Jameson said. Earlier this month, the judge sent letters and fliers to dozens of minority leaders, asking for assistance in recruiting minorities to serve on the grand jury that will be sworn in on July 1.

Judicial officials also plan to place ads in Spanish- and Vietnamese-language newspapers, and judges will speak at city council meetings, business group functions and other community forums.

“It’s very frustrating,” Jameson said. “The final pool is drawn randomly, but we’ve had very low turn-out in terms of getting applications from the minority community. There has been a drop-off. . . . We’re trying to make the court more accessible to people, with an emphasis on the grand jury.”

Unlike courts in other states and the federal circuit, which randomly draw grand jurors from lists of registered voters, Orange County has a multilayered selection process. Applications are taken from interested residents, and marshals perform background checks to weed out people with criminal records. Judges then interview and rank about 90 candidates, narrowing the list to 30. From that, the 19 grand jurors are drawn randomly, with the remaining 11 serving as alternates.

John Palacio, a Latino leader and veteran of the decade-long campaign to get minorities on the grand jury, suspects he and other activists have not pressed as hard as they did a few years ago.

“We might have been putting it in neutral,” Palacio said. “We know that we can do it, but sometimes we become complacent. We don’t try as hard. But I’m hoping that we can re-energize our efforts to see if we can reach out and get a grand jury that’s more reflective of Orange County.”

Amin David of Los Amigos of Orange County, a Latino rights group, agreed, saying, “It’s paramount that the county’s diversity be reflected in such an important body.”

In the past, grand juries mostly centered on criminal indictments. Although the district attorney still refers police shootings and some criminal cases to the grand jury, changes in the law have largely reshaped the group’s role. Now, Orange County’s panel primarily serves as a county government watchdog, writing several reports each year that review how various agencies do their jobs.

Because of that, Jameson said, judges look for prospective jurors who have research and investigatory skills.

Earlier this year, Paul Moreno of Mission Viejo applied for the grand jury that was impaneled in July. But the 63-year-old retired ironworker, who helped build some of Orange County’s best-known landmarks--Edison Field, the Arrowhead Pond and the Performing Arts Center--knew right away his contributions to the judiciary were not wanted.

“Most of the people who were chosen were more from a professional background. That’s the kind of person they were looking for,” Moreno said. “Maybe they didn’t think a person from the construction industry was smart enough. There weren’t that many blue collar people there.”

Moreno said he was given a questionnaire that asked about his investigative skills.

“Where in my lifetime would I have the opportunity to do investigations?” he asked. “After that, I started getting a little bit negative because I knew I wasn’t going to get selected.”

And language remains a barrier for many immigrants.

“Part of the problem is that 70% of Hispanic adults in Orange County are foreign-born, and many are monolingual Spanish speakers,” said Jorge Sanchez, director of institutional research for the Coast Community College District.

David, of Los Amigos, said Latinos are often eliminated during the interview process, which includes a final round in which judges quiz prospective jurors one-on-one.

“It’s intimidating,” David said. “I’m sure they’re looking for a specific profile of an individual that doesn’t fit the mold of a typical Latino.”

That’s the problem, said Montez of the Latin American league. “You can make any test applicable to get the type of people you want sitting on any board. I think they should be looking for people who have a sense of morals, people with a sense of ethics. People with common sense.”

But common sense alone won’t get you on the grand jury, Jameson said. People who have experience doing committee work and research will have an edge.

“I don’t think it is a bias. It’s just the nature of the beast that gives them an advantage,” Jameson said. The majority of applicants are affluent retirees, who can afford to give four days of work each week for a year for $25 a day, he said, adding that working people cannot give that much time or support a family on $100 a week.

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In the 30-member group drawn last year, 24 were white and four were Latino. There was one Asian American and one Native American. A racial and ethnic breakdown for the final 19 was unavailable Friday. The average age of last year’s group was 64, with 70% older than 60. Sixty percent were male.

This year, more than two-thirds of the 30-member group are men, and more than three-quarters are older than 60. All are white.

Jameson plans to change the interview process. In the past, judges have interviewed prospective jurors one-on-one. Some judges give high ratings freely, while others grade more harshly, the judge said.

“Next year, two judges will do the interviews so it will be a more balanced evaluation,” Jameson said.

There are plenty of minorities qualified to serve, Latino activists said.

“When you reach out you can get results,” Palacio said. “We need to work together with grand jury officials. This is an opportunity for us to look at our efforts.”

Applying to Serve

Anyone interested in applying for the 2000-2001 grand jury, which will begin service on July 1, can pick up an application at any county courthouse or by calling the grand jury hotline at (714) 834-6747. The deadline to apply is Jan. 31.