Louisiana courts sending out more summonses to get enough jurors

Article Added April 3rd, 2006 - Print This Story - Bookmark This Story

After hurricane Katrina, many Louisiana courts are facing the challenge of getting enough jurors for the more than 20 trials scheduled for this month. Normally the Orleans parish sends out 1,500 summonses, but after hurricane Katrina they have had to mail out double that amount. Unfortunately, the recent summonses have either had no response or could not be delivered. Fortunately, since the courthouse sent the summonses to a larger pool they were able to get over 500 people to respond.

The racial composition of the jurors has not been affected. Before and after Katrina, the majority of the jury pool was and is still black. Many believe that this signals that many of the African-Americans that left right after the destruction of Katrina have now returned. The Criminal District Court will resume holding trials later this month. Similar to what the Orleans parish did, the Criminal District Court mailed 3,000 summonses getting 400 people responding. One of the counting difficulties that the courts are having is that many of the residents are temporarily living with friends or other family members.

Last week, Judge Piper Griffin began a lung cancer case where a retired machinist and pipefitter was exposed to asbestos fibers while working on various job sites. In this case against the injured’s former employer, 12 jurors and 2 alternates were selected. This is one of 21 Civil Court trials set for this month. In many instances, many of these cases will settle pre-trial avoiding the need to select jurors. The court is already working to find jurors for May by mailing summonses last week.

Article Added April 3rd, 2006 - Print This Story - Bookmark This Story