Grand Jury Seeking Minority Applicants

The Orange County Grand Jury, which probes local government and considers indictments against suspected criminals, has launched a last-minute campaign to recruit more Latinos and Asians for next year’s panel.

Superior Court Judge David T. McEachen, head of the grand jury’s recruitment committee, said Thursday that only one Latino and no Asians have applied for service since the application process started in August. The last day to apply is Jan. 18, with the new panel’s term beginning July 1.

“We are concerned about diversity,” McEachen said. “We’d like to make the grand jury more representative of the community, which is about a third Hispanic and about 10% Asian.”

Of the 2001-2002 panel, almost 90% are white. About 77% are male.

To help in the recruitment drive, bilingual judges and grand jury members have been speaking on radio shows and at city council meetings in municipalities with large minority populations. Ads also have been placed in English-, Spanish- and Vietnamese-language newspapers.

The 2002-2003 grand jury needs 30 people, 19 members and 11 alternates. About 70 applications have been received so far. That’s fewer than some years at this time, but most applications usually arrive during the last two weeks of the recruitment period.

“The more people we get to apply,” McEachen said, “the better the opportunity to increase the diversity of the grand jury.”

The panel, which meets in secret, considers indictments for felony cases, looks into allegations of corruption by public officials and investigates the operations of local governments.

Grand jurors work on six committees--administrative agencies, criminal justice, environment and transportation, human services, juvenile services, and special issues.

Members are paid $50 a day and serve full time for a year. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, be at least 18 years old and have lived in Orange County for at least a year prior to their service.

Anyone interested in serving on the grand jury can call (714) 834-6747 for more information or apply online at https://www.occourts.org.