Shortage of Jurors Forces Trial Delays

A juror shortage caused in part by the Los Angeles County Superior Court system’s new “one trial” jury program has forced the postponement of several trials in the past two weeks in Van Nuys, officials said Thursday.

“It’s just a mess,” said Michael J. Farrell, supervising judge for Van Nuys Superior Court. “I had to continue five cases today because the courts couldn’t get jurors. Cases couldn’t move along.”

Van Nuys officials have taken to importing jurors from other courthouses, said Damian Romero, Van Nuys jury coordinator.

One day last week, he said, the Van Nuys courthouse brought over 60 to 70 jurors from San Fernando. On Thursday it received an emergency infusion of 50 jurors from the downtown district. Today, 140 to 160 jurors are expected to be sent from the Newhall court.

Courts have run out of jurors before, but the problem has seemed particularly acute in Van Nuys since the one-trial program began March 20, judges and court administrators said.

The program is being phased in across the county. Van Nuys, the county’s second-largest court district after downtown Los Angeles, is the largest courthouse now using the program, which allows potential jurors to go home if they are not being screened or chosen for a trial by the end of their first day of duty.

Other factors contributing to the shortage include cases unexpectedly transferred from other districts to Van Nuys, and the ongoing problem of “no-shows”--jurors who fail to appear even when summoned, court administrators said.

“No-shows are a big concern,” Romero said.

Under the new program, courts can no longer “recycle” jurors every day as they did under the old system, said Michael Paul McCullough, assistant court manager for Van Nuys. Previously, jurors not chosen on their first day would go back into the jury assembly room and be available on subsequent days for up to two weeks. Now, many eligible jurors go home at the end of their first day.

It costs about $5,000 a day to run a courtroom, whether it is used or not, McCullough said.

Relying on jurors imported from other districts is only a temporary solution to the problem, judges and court administrators said.

In the long run, they added, Van Nuys should receive a larger allocation of jurors, and officials hope for fewer no-shows.

“This is a question of how you manage the jurors you have,” said Gloria Gomez, manager of juror services for Los Angeles County Superior Court.

In the meantime, judges say they feel frustrated by the delays caused by the juror shortage. “I should be trying cases,” said Judge Richard G. Kolostian Sr., whose courtroom had run out of jurors the past two days.