Nineteen prospective jurors who were required to be at Labette County District Court on Aug. 19 as part of the pool for selection for a trial didn’t show up.
Judge Fred W. Johnson, who was to preside at that trial, required all 19 citizens to appear Thursday for a contempt action for not showing up. Fifteen citizens appeared as required and four failed to appear and likely will have arrest warrants issued for contempt.
As Judge Johnson explained at the contempt hearing, the jury pool that did show up for the trial, which was for Johnny L. Baker, was released early. He didn’t say in the contempt hearing but Baker failed to appear for his criminal trial and was arrested four days later. He remains jailed on bonds totaling $500,000.
The judge told the 15 citizens about the importance of jurors in our democracy. He said citizens called to serve on the jury must show up. If this wasn’t mandatory, there wouldn’t be jurors.
Generally, 60 to 90 citizens are called to serve on a jury pool. They are to appear at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the trial. During voir dire, the process attorneys use to select a jury, lawyers for both parties, or the defense and the prosecutor in a criminal case, question the jurors in a smaller group about their knowledge of the case, witnesses and defendant and other issues while the other citizens called to serve watch. As jurors are dismissed from the pool being questioned, other jurors are called up from the group watching the process. The goal is to empanel a 12- or 14-member jury to hear the case.
Johnson said jurors are key to the judicial process. That’s why the judge, the parties and the public stand up when the jury enters and leaves the courtroom.
While no one may want to serve on a jury, it’s still important for citizens to show up, he said. He’s heard all excuses for why someone cannot show up: Child care, job, business obligations, etc. The reality is serving on a jury panel isn’t about individual circumstances.
“It’s about your duty,” Johnson said. “I need you to understand it’s important.”
When jurors show up and serve, many are glad they did, he said. He told the 15 who showed up they would join him as prospective jurors for the next trial. They were not fined or otherwise punished for contempt.
