Sherman Smith Sr., 81; Judge Worked to Make Juries Representative

Sherman W. Smith Sr., a leading Superior and Municipal Court judge in Los Angeles in the 1960s and ‘70s perhaps best known for his efforts to make jury pools more representative of the community, has died. He was 81.

Smith suffered a heart attack at his Los Angeles home Friday and died while being transported by ambulance to Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood. His son, Sherman W. Smith Jr., also a retired judge, said his father had been in failing health for some time.

The senior Smith made headlines in 1974 when he ruled that poor defendants -- particularly blacks, Latinos and the young -- were being denied their constitutional right to trial by a jury selected from a cross-section of the community.

In making his ruling, Smith said jurors should no longer be selected exclusively from lists of registered voters. His written opinion suggested that jurors, in addition to being selected from among registered voters, also could be chosen from lists of licensed drivers and welfare recipients, as well as from utility and unemployment rolls.

The ruling was believed to be the first of its kind in the United States to find that a jury selection system was biased against the poor.

Smith’s ruling did not pass a state Court of Appeal review, and was overturned. The existing system of selecting prospective jurors from lists of registered voters was retained.

Eventually, however, the California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court embraced the concept of broadening the jury-selection pool.

Sherman W. Smith Sr. was born in Portsmouth, Va., and graduated from West Virginia State College. He served in the Army Air Forces near Sacramento during World War II.

Having completed his law degree at Howard University after the war, he returned to California and practiced law in Los Angeles and San Diego.

According to his son, he formed the first black law firm in San Diego.

In 1963, he was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by Gov. Pat Brown.

As a Municipal Court judge, he served in the traffic, civil and criminal divisions.

Smith presided over the Municipal Court calendar after the Watts riots of 1965, supervising the work of 14 judges.

In 1963, he was elevated to the Superior Court, where he was believed to be the first to appoint black lawyers to represent indigent white defendants.

He retired from the bench in 1977.

Active in Democratic Party affairs, Smith was a founder in 1960 of the New Frontier Democratic Club, believed to be the oldest African American Democratic club in the state.

According to his son, the club has included among its members a who’s who of black Democratic figures in Southern California, including Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, Rep. Diane Watson, Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and the late Rep. Julian Dixon.

Active in community affairs, Smith was a co-founder of the Urban League of San Diego and Merchants Title Co. (one of the first black-owned title firms). He also served as a director of the Crenshaw and Metropolitan YMCAs.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 49 years, Helen; another son, Roger; a daughter, Louise; a sister, Hazel; two grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at the Angelus Funeral Home, 3875 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.