Prospective Jurors

FEW PEOPLE can turn down well-earned money. But that is exactly what Howard countians might consider doing when called to jury duty in Circuit Court. Those able to spare the $10 or $20 in juror pay -- especially people whose employers pay them for time spent on jury duty -- may want to contribute to foster care services.Before the program was launched, a survey reported that half of jurors would be willing to donate their fees to help foster children. But only about 25 percent of residents called for jury duty have forfeited their pay so far and only about $3,000 has been collected.

LOS ANGELES -- The decision by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office not to seek the death penalty against O. J. Simpson alters many aspects of the trial, most notably the jury selection process, legal analysts and others said yesterday.At the same time, the move probably means that the Simpson trial -- which has already sparked public discussion about hot-button issues such as domestic abuse, racism and police conduct -- will not become a vehicle for prolonged debate about yet another volatile topic, the death penalty.

Rodney King I, Imelda Marcos, the Menendez brothers, the Branch Davidians -- the visible examples of something wrong with our jury system come too numerously to mind.How can cases like these happen time after time? Is it that the jury system is hopelessly flawed and that its day has passed? In Britain, only 5 percent of all criminal cases and 1 per cent of all civil cases are handled by juries now.But in America, we are much more likely to dispense with the wisdom and prejudices of judges for the humanity and prejudices of a collection of our fellow citizens.

After watching Mayor Sheila Dixon stand for four hours straight at the judge's bench, next to the mostly male lawyers prosecuting her and those defending her, I thought of that famous line about Ginger Rogers. The one about how she did everything her much more renowned dance partner Fred Astaire did, only backward and in high heels. I don't mean to reduce Dixon to her four-inch black pumps. But then, Dixon is not only Baltimore's first female mayor, but its first to be in office and on trial simultaneously.

The manslaughter trial of Canadian dentist Alpna Patel finally got under way yesterday, despite attempts by her lawyers to delay proceedings because of publicity surrounding the unusual case. Ten women and two men were selected as jurors. In Patel's first trial in February, the jury panel had 11 women who wanted to acquit her, but the lone male juror wouldn't go along and a mistrial was declared. Patel is charged with manslaughter in the stabbing death last year of her physician husband at his Northwest Baltimore apartment.

DENVER -- Jury selection in the second Oklahoma City bombing trial entered its fourth week in U.S. District Court yesterday, with lawyers for the prosecution and for the defendant, Terry L. Nichols, asking to have panelists removed for cause.Forty-one potential jurors remained. The jury pool must reach at least 64 before each side can make its 23 peremptory challenges. There will eventually be 12 jurors and 6 alternates.Yesterday, Judge Richard P. Matsch removed two jurors at the request of lawyers for Nichols and five jurors at the request of prosecutors, including two people who said they could not vote to impose the death penalty.

ATLANTA - It's been nearly five years since the not-guilty verdict was returned for O.J. Simpson, but that celebrated case has assumed a prominent role in the trial of Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Attorneys, who today begin the third day of jury selection, have quizzed virtually every prospective juror for his or her attitudes on the Simpson case. Legal experts say many judges, and even defense attorneys, would not allow that line of questioning in most cases. But the similarities between the trials of the two high-profile athletes charged with double murder makes it fair game here.

Samuel P. SislerCoast Guard workerSamuel P. Sisler, a retired department supervisor at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, died Feb. 5 of pneumonia at the Old Court Nursing Center in Pikesville.The 90-year-old Randallstown resident retired in 1968 after 29 years at the Coast Guard Yard.He had come to Baltimore in the early 1930s and operated his own painting contracting company for a time. The Connellsville, Pa., native graduated from Fair Chance (Pa.) High School. He was a member of the Liberty Lodge of the Masons, the Baltimore Forest of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

After two days of delays, Richard Antonio Moore was given his first look yesterday at the people who might decide his fate. Jury selection began in Harford County Circuit Court for Moore, 30, of Baltimore, who is charged with fatally shooting Baltimore County police Sgt. Bruce A. Prothero last year. Prothero, 35, a father of five, was shot three times Feb. 7 as he chased four men after a robbery at J. Brown Jewelers in Pikesville, where he was working part time as a security guard. Three other defendants have been convicted of first-degree felony murder in the shooting, but Moore is the only one to face the possibility of the death penalty.

The nation's largest-ever consolidated trial went into reverse gear yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court when Judge Marshall A. Levin reluctantly dismissed the 51-member panel from which attorneys were to select a jury to decide 9,032 asbestos-related personal injury claims.The decision wipes out three weeks of effort and energy that had gone into questioning hundreds of prospective jurors. It also means at least another month's worth of jury selection before the start of what is expected to be a six-month trial.