System Excludes Jurors and Wastes Their Time

Re “Many Pay for Doing Civic Duty,” July 18: The problem with jury service goes well beyond employer compensation to jurors. What if you’re self-employed? I work in the entertainment industry. My work fluctuates seasonally, so it doesn’t fit neatly into the financial hardship rules imposed by the court. Last year, had I been chosen for a jury when I was called, I would have lost the equivalent of 11/2 times my monthly “nut” in income. I cannot afford, nor should I be asked, to lose that much.

I feel I have a civic obligation to perform jury duty, I want to serve and I certainly have a schedule that allows me adequate time to serve. However, the inflexibility of the system won’t allow it. Why can’t court scheduling take into account a juror’s financial situation without outright disqualifying him?

My job has yearly slow periods. Why can’t I reserve a date in advance during that period? And why put a financially strapped juror on a 12-to 15-day criminal trial when there are thousands of two-to three-day civil cases waiting to be heard? Thousands of qualified jurors aren’t being utilized.

John Repczynski

Valley Glen

Your article focuses on the need for employers to pay for jury service. I disagree. The L.A. County courts should pay each person’s salary to his or her company and minimum wage to unemployed or stay-at-home parents.

I am waiting for my one-day, one-trial service to begin in Van Nuys. I call in each evening. I was first called for jury duty in 1982. Including jury selection and deliberations, I was on jury duty for 51/2 months. The trial ended in a mistrial when one of the jurors decided she was in love with the defendant. He was convicted of multiple murders the next year. Approximately every two years, I am called to serve. Once I was on a grand jury one day a week for a year. Eventually my company reduced our unlimited jury service to 10 days.

If you get seated on a panel, you may be in court five hours a day if you are lucky. Because L.A. County courts are not paying for our service, there is no accountability to keep trials progressing in a timely manner.

I have no objection to serving. However, I guarantee you I will not be donating my vacation pay to the L.A. County courts. I have other charities that I support.

Kathleen N. Schwartz

North Hollywood

See the big crocodile tears being shed by L.A. County Superior Court Presiding Judge James Bascue because someone else is not paying for his jurors. Small businesses and indeed businesses of all sizes have decided that the legal system is no bargain and offers them nothing, and so they don’t want to pay for jurors. The courts have no motivation to make their operation effective and efficient as long as they can hand the bill to someone else. It is time for the courts to pay the jurors themselves--and not the pittance they currently offer.

Jim Dodd

San Diego