Jury Duty

Like two schoolboys ordered to stay after class, Donald Carstens and Athanasios Katsoulis sat fidgeting in a Baltimore courtroom yesterday, watching the clock and waiting until they could go home.They were lectured, scolded about their behavior and ordered to remain in a paneled, windowless circuit courtroom until 5 p.m. after Judge Edward J. Angeletti held them in contempt as part of a crackdown on those who fail to appear for jury duty.After a morning of hearing excuses, Angeletti ordered Carstens and Katsoulis to stay for the day, fined them $100 and ordered them to pay $115 in court costs.

This is a comment on problems with a city bureaucracy other than faulty water bills. On Feb. 14-16, I served as a juror on a city murder trial. About two weeks later I received a summons for duty on April 19th. I promptly filled in the new "efficient" form claiming the "served within a year" dispensation and mailed it at the post office. On March 24, I received a postcard claiming that I hadn't completed my questionnaire and threatening a fine $1,000 and/or imprisonment. This card placed me in a Catch-22 situation.

This is a comment on problems with a city bureaucracy other than faulty water bills. On Feb. 14-16, I served as a juror on a city murder trial. About two weeks later I received a summons for duty on April 19th. I promptly filled in the new "efficient" form claiming the "served within a year" dispensation and mailed it at the post office. On March 24, I received a postcard claiming that I hadn't completed my questionnaire and threatening a fine $1,000 and/or imprisonment. This card placed me in a Catch-22 situation.

Last year, Baltimore court officials sent a quarter-million summonses to potential jurors, culled from driver's license and voting records, knowing that only a fraction — about 27 percent — of those called would show up. The city has tried offering restaurant coupons, parking discounts and a "Juror Appreciation Week" to bring in more people over the years — threatening some of the worst truants with jail time — but the efforts have...

While it is a serious problem that 144,442 would-be voters who registered via the MVA were not added to the voter rolls ( "Nearly 25 percent of MVA voter registrations fail," Feb. 21) it also plays a huge role in explaining why the same voters are called every nine months for jury duty in Baltimore City. If these "dropped" voters could be added, it would greatly increase the jury pool and jurors would be more willing to serve when they know that everyone is participating and not just the same few. Kitty Deimel, Hampden

Called for jury duty for the third time that he can remember, Dario Broccolino doesn't know why he wasn't picked Thursday to hear a personal injury complaint stemming from an automobile accident. Maybe because he's the top prosecutor for Howard County? "I have no idea which side didn't want me on the jury," Broccolino said. "There's a million different reasons why you want someone on a jury or don't want them on a jury, what perceptions or preconceived ideas you have." Broccolino walked into the courtroom of Circuit Judge Timothy McCrone — his predecessor and former boss — not as Howard County state's attorney but as a citizen called to meet a civic obligation.

They picked me for a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore, Judge John Carroll Byrnes presiding. It was an attempted murder case: A young fellow named Bradley, also known as Doo Wop, allegedly stabbed another young fellow named Massey in a drunken fight over a woman named Jones, supposedly the "baby mother" of the defendant. This happened early on Friday, March 26 last year, on East 34th Street near Ellerslie Avenue in northeast Baltimore. Only one witness to the incident testified during the trial, and that was Mr. Massey, the victim.

As a Baltimore resident in good standing with no criminal record, I've dutifully shown up for jury duty year after year. It's not something I'm longing to do - I have no burning desire to stand in judgment of someone accused of wrongdoing. But someone has to do it. I show up ready to do my duty under our law. Why not? We've got the best justice system in the world, right? I've never been chosen to serve on a jury, though. I don't know what it is; maybe I look like the type of person who wouldn't "understand" the defendant.

THERE MUST BE plenty of law on the books about this already. I'm sure the Supreme Court of the United States has made numerous rulings on the matter. It's probably futile for me to even raise the issue and make a suggestion on how we might consider streamlining the movement of cases through the Maryland courts -- in particular, its busiest circuit -- but the prospect of utter futility never stopped me before. (I'm a fly fisherman, after all.) So here goes.Last week I found myself again summoned to Baltimore Circuit Court for jury duty.

HERE'S what happened in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City on May 6, 1999, the day I failed to appear for jury duty. About 249 jurors of 550 summoned showed up, about 45 percent, for the mathematically inclined among you. Six judges -- Robert I. H. Hammerman, John N. Prevas, John C. Themelis, Margaret Murdock, David Ross and Paul A. Smith -- heard criminal cases. (Hammerman, technically retired, is a visiting judge who hears cases a limited number of times a year.) Judges Bonita J. Dancy and Kathleen O'Ferrall Friedman heard civil cases, while Judges David B. Mitchell, Clifton J. Gordy Jr. and Evelyn O. Cannon tried cases in misdemeanor trial court.

As a Baltimore resident in good standing with no criminal record, I've dutifully shown up for jury duty year after year. It's not something I'm longing to do - I have no burning desire to stand in judgment of someone accused of wrongdoing. But someone has to do it. I show up ready to do my duty under our law. Why not? We've got the best justice system in the world, right? I've never been chosen to serve on a jury, though. I don't know what it is; maybe I look like the type of person who wouldn't "understand" the defendant.

Coworkers who live in Baltimore long ago disabused me of the notion that being a journalist will get you out of jury duty. I remember one woman I used to work with serving on multiple juries. Still, when I get one of those calls from an opinion pollster, I've always been able to wriggle off the hook by telling him or her that I work for a media company. So it caught me off guard Monday evening when the caller told me that my employment didn't disqualify me from the poll she was taking.

Interested in silencing Baltimore traffic? Just post signs with the message, "Honk if you enjoy jury duty. " The quiet would be deafening. Jury duty may be a sacred obligation in a free society, but there are times when it can be worse than a mere inconvenience or a few days away from work. There are occasions — rare but not unknown — when jurors may be harassed, intimidated or their lives threatened by criminal defendants or their conspirators. Given that unfortunate reality, this week's vote by the Maryland Court of Appeals to allow juries to serve anonymously in criminal trials when a judge believes there's a likelihood of jury tampering or harassment or that their lives may be placed in danger is entirely appropriate.

They picked me for a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore, Judge John Carroll Byrnes presiding. It was an attempted murder case: A young fellow named Bradley, also known as Doo Wop, allegedly stabbed another young fellow named Massey in a drunken fight over a woman named Jones, supposedly the "baby mother" of the defendant. This happened early on Friday, March 26 last year, on East 34th Street near Ellerslie Avenue in northeast Baltimore. Only one witness to the incident testified during the trial, and that was Mr. Massey, the victim.

While it is a serious problem that 144,442 would-be voters who registered via the MVA were not added to the voter rolls ( "Nearly 25 percent of MVA voter registrations fail," Feb. 21) it also plays a huge role in explaining why the same voters are called every nine months for jury duty in Baltimore City. If these "dropped" voters could be added, it would greatly increase the jury pool and jurors would be more willing to serve when they know that everyone is participating and not just the same few. Kitty Deimel, Hampden

Thank you for publishing the interview with Steve Walters ("If Baltimore cuts property tax rate, they will come," Jan. 23). His plan makes sense, and I hope the city's elected officials are paying attention. As a 30-year resident of Baltimore, I have watched with sadness as many friends and colleagues have chosen to live in the surrounding counties rather than the city. Most often one of the primary reasons they look elsewhere is because of the city's exorbitant property tax rate.

Local and federal law enforcement agencies are warning consumers about a jury duty scam that attempts to steal your identity. In the scheme, someone posing as a court officer calls to inform you that you've missed a summons for jury duty and that there is a warrant issued for your arrest. When you protest that you never received the summons, the caller will then ask for your Social Security number and date of birth or ask you to verify personal data, such as credit card account numbers, to cancel the arrest warrant.

Nearly 10,000 Baltimore residents have made the "Jury's Most Wanted List" for having skipped jury duty three or more times, and an angry Circuit Court judge yesterday began sentencing the worst offenders to all or part of the day in jail.Judge Edward J. Angeletti convicted a day care worker, a cement mixer, a senior citizen and an advertising copywriter of contempt of court and ordered that they spend several hours in the courthouse lockup.All but the senior citizen were taken away in handcuffs.

Called for jury duty for the third time that he can remember, Dario Broccolino doesn't know why he wasn't picked Thursday to hear a personal injury complaint stemming from an automobile accident. Maybe because he's the top prosecutor for Howard County? "I have no idea which side didn't want me on the jury," Broccolino said. "There's a million different reasons why you want someone on a jury or don't want them on a jury, what perceptions or preconceived ideas you have." Broccolino walked into the courtroom of Circuit Judge Timothy McCrone — his predecessor and former boss — not as Howard County state's attorney but as a citizen called to meet a civic obligation.

L aureano V. Lozano lives on Alan Tree Road in White Marsh, near a suburban mall and a 16-screen theater. His Baltimore County address didn't stop him from getting a summons this month for jury duty in Baltimore City, even though city juries are limited to city residents by law. James W. Gray's address is listed on Sinclair Lane on the city's east side. He died two years ago, but that didn't stop him from getting a summons for jury duty in Baltimore this month. To critics of the way state court officials pick potential jurors at the downtown Baltimore Circuit Courthouse, Lozano and Gray are just two examples of a broken system that repeatedly calls on the dead and missing to pass judgment on the guilt and innocence of their peers.