Countywide : Jurors’ Peerless Work Honored

Their job dates back to the ancient Greeks and merits special mention in the U.S. Constitution, and their decisions affect lives and money.

They are, of course, jurors, the citizens who sacrifice days, weeks or even months to sit on a panel deciding the fate of their peers. Because that service can be inconvenient or underappreciated, the American Board of Trial Advocates and a group of Orange County judges honored jurors Thursday as a prelude to Jury Appreciation Week, June 14-18.

Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard received a framed replica of the 13-starred American flag, used when the Bill of Rights was signed, on behalf of the 45,000 Orange County citizens who are summoned each month for jury duty.

“I am a firm believer that trials judged by a jury of your peers (are) the cornerstone of justice and liberty in our country today,” Millard said at a news conference held at the Plaza of the Flags outside the Orange County Superior Courthouse in Santa Ana. “When Americans step forward to serve, they are taking part in an ancient and time-honored system of people trying to resolve their problems and disputes in a peaceful way.”

“They are members of government making decisions that are going to affect their neighbors,” said Theodore Howard, president-elect of the local chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. “They are the conscience and collective common sense of our democracy. But a lot of the time the system doesn’t treat them with the respect and consideration they deserve.”

Howard said his group, which is composed of trial attorneys, last year prepared a “juror bill of rights” to promote better treatment of the citizens who fulfill their civic duty.

Huntington Beach research scientist Mark Legg, who was visiting the courthouse to appeal his call to jury duty, said the single best way to treat jurors is to increase their pay. In Orange County, jurors are paid $5 a day.

“The jurors are doing a professional job and they should be compensated in a professional manner,” said Legg, who was seeking to be excused because of work commitments. “The expense should be part of the court costs. Maybe it would encourage more out-of-court settlements and discourage frivolous lawsuits.”