San Bernardino Superior Court hosted the nation’s second juror appreciation lunch Sept. 4—with an intent to change the way juror duty is perceived.
Speakers said jury duty was a crucial ideal of American Revolutionaries, and an opportunity to test one’s own biases.
The luncheon honored 12 jurors who served in the court in the past year.
Richard McHatton, a juror who completed a four month murder trial, said he appreciated the ability to test himself.
“When I received my summons, I was against the fray—I wanted to go to jury duty. It was something that I was excited to do, to test myself. Could I be impartial? Could I mute my biases? Could I give everybody a fair shake?” McHatton said.
“I would rate it 10 out of 10, I would do it again,” he ended.
The luncheon was co-hosted by the American Board of Trial Advocates, which co-hosted the first luncheon in Orange County last year, and wants to continue changing the public perception of jury duty.
San Bernardino Presiding Judge Lisa Rogan said she always wanted to serve on a jury. She was not allowed to as a law enforcement officer. Even after the statutory restriction on officers was lifted, she was excluded by a judge.
“I applied for it so many times, and got rejected. So, I thank you for your service. I am so honored to be here today to honor you in this important work that you do as a citizen of our country,” Rogan said.
San Bernardino Judge Bryan Foster, who has been excluded as a juror six times since he became a judge, played a 1998 video sketch from the International Association of Defense Counsel. It compared jury duty to a class.
“This course could take a few days, or a few weeks. I’m not sure,” the teacher/judge told students/jurors.
“This course could be taught by 10, or 20, different teachers, and it will involve a subject you know nothing about. In fact, if you knew something about the subject to be taught, you couldn’t take the class. Each teacher will give you relevant information about the subject…You have to decide which teachers are telling the truth,” the teacher/judge said.
The jury system, like any system, is not perfect. But it is the most fundamental expression of our democracy. It puts the responsibility of justice in the hands of the people,” Foster said.
San Bernardino Judge Gilbert Ochoa began with an apology to Rogan—for kicking her out of jury duty years ago.
In the past 40 years as an attorney and judge, he has either tried or presided over 200-300 jury trials—and less than a handful of the verdicts felt off, he said.
“For some reason, some remarkable reason, it works. It works because, first of all, because we have individuals who step up to the plate, from the community, that think it’s worthwhile to do that,” Ochoa said.
“We want our community, our stakeholders, to take ownership of the system. Without that ownership, we don’t have a system. For all the people that stayed behind that selection process, when we poke and prod you with mental questions, trying to create a fair jury, judicial, that does not have an ax to grind: It’s really important to appreciate all the time that you have spent putting up with us,” Ochoa said.
Judge Alexander Martinez tied jury duty to the patriots of the American Revolution, who wrote King George III’s deprivation of their right to trial by jury into the Declaration of Independence.
“One of the very specific top reasons that we decided to break from England, and to go to war, was for the right to a jury trial,” Martinez said.
“Prior to our founding as a nation, in the early systems under British rule, there was no real, meaningful, effective right to a jury trial. The King of England and his representative was the American legal system, and the people in colonies eventually found that system to be so disgusting, and so contrary to their notions of justice and freedom that they believed it was important enough to go to war, and to shed blood, to fight for it,” Martinez said.
Our system is now an international model envied by people all over the world, Martinez said.
One of his former jurors, a Ghanaian immigrant, was amazed that he was able to take part in deciding cases. He told Martinez that only the rich and powerful could serve on juries in his home country, Martinez said.
“Our jury system, and our system of justice, is the single best that I know of in the world to ensure the rights of the citizen as best as possible from encroachment and the tyranny of the government,” Martinez said.
“There’s not one single totalitarian government on Earth that gives its citizens a right to a jury trial. Really, not one, not a single country on Earth that has a non-democratic form of government, gives its citizens a meaningful right to a jury trial. Because dictators, and authoritarians around the world, recognize the inherent power that a right to a jury trial takes away from them and the government. You take away that power, of the few, and give it to the many, it is inherently a danger and a threat to oppressive systems,” Martinez said.
Assistant Presiding Judge Rod Cortez agreed.
“It’s you as the anchor, holding our government to these principles that we all hold true. You should be proud of what you’ve done, because you keep Thomas Jefferson’s words true, hundreds of years after he uttered those words and put pen to paper,” Cortez said.
California-American Board of Trial Advocates President Greg Rizio said by phone he wants to change the negative public perception of jury duty.
The Orange County chapter of CAL-ABOTA hosted the first jury appreciation luncheon last year. That luncheon was the idea of attorney Yoshiaki Kubota. Kubota, who attended the San Bernardino luncheon, said that he tagged along Orange Superior Judge Mark Kelly’s juror appreciation week.
Rizio said that ABOTA wants to take juror appreciation luncheons statewide, and that he and an ABOTA team, including Kubota, have been in contact with most presiding judges in the state’s courts.
They also have started a new program to distribute “I love jury duty” stickers—inspired by the “I voted” stickers passed out at the ballot box.
Riverside Superior Judge Chad Firetag is already distributing the stickers to his jurors, Rizio said.
