Some Jurors Stay Out Today’s Citizens Quick To Dive Out Of The Jury Pool, Officals Say

One woman couldn’t serve on a jury because it was golf season.

She couldn’t possibly think about a trial while preoccupied with her putting, she said.

One man tried to duck jury service because, he wrote, “I do not believe in the court system, I do not feel it is fair, I’m very prejudiced.”

A Sandpoint woman already has served three days in jail for refusing to sit in judgment and could face even more time behind bars. But first she wants to plead her case - before a jury.

To bailiffs and judges, being a juror is an honor, a privilege and a duty - one that more and more citizens are shirking.

In today’s busy world, this right granted to Americans in the Constitution is often viewed as an intrusion, an annoyance and a financial burden.

“There are more people that don’t seem to see jury duty as an obligation to the society we live in,” said First District Judge Gary Haman.

Gomer Davis, Kootenai County’s chief jury commissioner, agreed.

“This is the place where people most closely function in their government; they come down here and make something happen,” he said. “What a wonderful right and it’s being abdicated lately. I see it as a tragic loss for our country.”

About 7,000 Kootenai County residents are called for jury duty each year. They must be available to sit on any trial that comes up during the week they’re called for duty.

Davis, a bailiff with a warmhearted air and generous smile, has been a jury commissioner at the Kootenai County Courthouse more than 10 years. He’s faced an increasing number of hostile would-be jurors on the telephone and in person.

Davis has been called a Nazi and other names not suitable to print.

“It Appears You Are Intentionally Harassing Me,” wrote one angry man who did not like finding a jury notice in his mailbox. “I highly recommend you to annoy a more qualified individual.”

Reasons for not wanting to serve range from the mundane to the bizarre.

“They tell me ‘I don’t believe in the system, there is no justice,”’ Davis says. “They say, ‘I’ll just come down there and say whatever I have to say to get out of jury duty.”’

Mark Johnson, Bonner County assistant jury commissioner, remembered a woman asking to be excused because she was nursing her daughter. “I asked her how old her daughter was and she said she was 6.”

Kathy Ginter, 42, of Sandpoint, would sooner spend a day in jail than sit on a jury.

Last year, she was called to be a juror in Bonner County. She refused to fill out the questionnaire given to all potential jurors and then refused to appear for a court hearing to explain why.

Ginter voluntarily turned herself in to authorities in February when she found out there was a warrant for her arrest. She refused to eat during her three days in jail.

“I just feel the courts have become corrupt and fallen away from God’s law,” Ginter said, explaining she believes judges should be ordained by God and only church elders should be jurors.

Earlier this year, Ginter was again randomly called for jury duty. She still doesn’t plan to be a juror and has no intention of showing up for the May court hearing set before a judge.

Instead, Ginter said she wants a jury to decide her fate because she believes the judge will be biased against her.

When asked if she sees the irony in her request, Ginter merely replied, “I would want the (jurors) to understand that they shouldn’t even be there.”

Economic hardship, especially in Shoshone County, is the primary reason people try to opt out, said Dan McGee, Shoshone County prosecutor. Many say they simply can’t afford the time off work for $10 a day. Although some companies pay their employees during trial time, many smaller businesses can’t afford to.

Of course, court officials point out, that folks really don’t want their juries made up only of the unemployed or idle rich.

Although the majority of people still serve jury duty without a hassle, both Haman and jury commissioner Johnson believe a growing distrust of government fuels people’s growing distaste for jury duty.

“There is a lot of cynicism out there, a distrust for government,” Haman said. “That whole attitude has spread through society to a point that they don’t feel any sense of obligation to the country.”

Davis also believes the younger generations have not been taught the importance of juries. It’s often older folks who are the most willing when called to service, he said.

It’s not that legitimate excuses don’t exist.

People over 70 don’t have to serve if they don’t want to.

In Bonner County, residents mired in by muddy roads can delay their service. Those trapped by snow also have a good shot at delaying their service during the winter.

Jury commissioners will even push back service for up to six months for people who have scheduled vacations or are in an unusual pinch at work.

Patrick Dingman admitted he didn’t want to serve when he was called for jury duty. He had just started working for the Coeur d’Alene City Parks Department six months earlier.

“It takes time, I didn’t want to get off work, I was in the middle of a busy season,” he said.

But as the trial for a man charged with attempted murder got underway, Dingman found himself increasingly interested.

Lori Harwood never stepped inside a court until she was recently selected to be a juror.

“I didn’t want to do it,” she admits. “People would say, ‘Oh you don’t want to be on a jury, it’s horrible.”’

Through the nine-day murder trial, she watched the accused woman break into uncontrollable tears, she viewed a video tape taken of the bloody death scene and she listened to detailed accounts of physical abuse.

“It was tough for me because we were dealing with a woman’s life and our decision made a difference,” Harwood said.

But by the end, both Harwood and Dingman said they were glad they got called as jurors.

Shoshone County Judge Craig Kosonen explains it to his jurors like this:

“By this process, by your participation, you perpetuate the lofty ideals that set this government apart from every other government in the history of this planet. The government is here for the people. When that is gone we’ve lost something valuable that we may never regain.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MOST CALLED TO JURY WON’T HAVE TO SERVE About 7,000 Kootenai County residents are summoned to court each year to serve jury duty. But more than half of those won’t ever sit in on a trial. Each trial starts out with a panel of between 25 and 55 potential jurors selected randomly from driver’s license and voter registration lists. In the larger district court cases, the judge and attorneys whittle that number down to about 13 people - 12 jurors and one alternate. In the smaller, magistrate court cases, six jurors and one alternate usually are used. The average jury service lasts only two to three days, said Gomer Davis, Kootenai County chief jury commissioner. Once people have served their week of jury duty, they don’t have to serve again for another three years. That’s true for even those jurors who never sat on a trial. Jurors are paid only $10 a day for their service and they often ask why they aren’t paid an amount closer to their real income, Davis said. Right now, Kootenai County taxpayers fork over between $70,000 and $90,000 a year for jurors. Davis estimates it would cost taxpayers closer to a million dollars a year if jurors were payed the average county wage. - Winda Benedetti