Jurors’ privacy in high-profile trials
Re “Secret jurors,” editorial, April 26
It is obvious that the editorial writer has never served on a high-profile trial. Imagine media -- your own paper included -- hounding you, your family, your friends, your employer, and essentially ruining your life for a time, all because you were selected to serve on a jury. You think we have a problem with people dodging their civic duty now? After going online daily to read the escapades of my friend in her trial experience, I would tell a judge or lawyer in the future that I’m not sure I could be impartial because, at times, the process stinks. I’d never been able to Google a friend before. It resulted in a sour taste for media trial coverage.
AMY LITTON
Costa Mesa
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I recently served on a jury in a non-celebrity home invasion/kidnapping case. Even under the low-profile circumstances of an obscure five-day trial, I saw how difficult it was to seat a panel from a pool of citizens openly trying to evade jury duty. And the jury selection process might have stretched on for weeks if we jurors knew that our names would be part of the public record. A key measure allowing us to calmly consider this case, free from fear and paranoia, was the court’s assurance that our identities would be protected.
Your absurd comment that jury proceedings have “traditionally been deemed less subject to tampering because the public knew which of their neighbors were sitting in judgment” indicates that you believe Los Angeles is a small, crime-free rural community. Your logic suggests that few, if any, of The Times’ editorial board members have ever sat on the jury of a criminal case.
NEIL COHEN
Santa Monica
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Re “Spector’s past put on view at trial,” April 26
Oh, please. Are you telling me there’s not enough news in the world, both good and bad, that The Times has to fill the front page with a breakfastkilling photo of Phil Spector? If he is guilty, the courts will decide. But this murder case, and his face, don’t deserve the kind of coverage you’re giving it.
Please remove his photo at once and replace it with the announcement of my new public health campaign -- neutering all celebrities.
STEVE PASKAY
Marina del Rey