Monroe County courts might not provide a true 'jury of peers'

IU students facing trial in Monroe County might not be opposite a jury of their peers.\nA Jan. 1, 2003, Indiana Supreme Court ruling changed how jury pools were selected within the Hoosier state. Before, jurors were drawn solely from voter registration.\nThe law allows for Monroe County to pull names from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles and property tax records, said David J. Remondini, counsel to the chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.\nBut some are worrying whether the jury system is fair for students, who, based on census data, make up 54 percent of the population in Monroe County.\nRemodini said the new lists are thought by the court to be "representative of 99 percent of the population."\nHowever, after taking student population into consideration and consulting with those who completed the study that led to this statistic, Remodini eased away from the claim.\n"It's entirely possible that Monroe County's list does not include students unless the students have changed their addresses on their driver's licenses," Remodini said. "I don't think anyone ever thought of that."\nRemodini said Indiana law states anyone who moves within Indiana or permanently to Indiana must notify the BMV, effectively adding them to the pool. \nAddresses can be updated in the BMV database free of charge, regardless of when an issued driver's license or identification card expires, according to the BMV Web site.\nOf course, for those seeking to avoid jury duty, this fact can also serve as a helpful means of avoidance: Those who do not update their addresses would be left out of the jury pool.\nDespite the large\npercentage of students in Monroe County, Lisa Abraham, the county's court\nprograms coordinator for the past 13 years, said she seldom comes into\ncontact with them in her professional capacity.\nNewly elected Monroe County Prosecutor Chris Gaal backed up Abraham's assertion that few students see juries.\n"Probably the most typical charges faced by students are illegal consumption and public intoxication," Gaal said. While he stressed that the likelihood of perpetrators of these offenses facing a trial depend on each individual case, he said, "typically for a first offense the tradition has been to offer them a pre-trial diversion." \nFormer Prosecutor Carl Salzmann, who served for 13 years, often offered first-time offenders community service and rehabilitation courses in lieu of a trial, Gaal said. Gaal said he is in favor of continuing the trend.\nSpecific statistics regarding collegiate admission were not available for past juries, but Abraham said college students who are considered residents of Monroe County are equally included in the current jury pool and are treated the same as any other resident.\nIf summoned, a student's prior commitment to class is not an accepted excuse.\n"The Supreme Court has made no exceptions for anyone," Abraham said, adding that a lot of IU administration and professors serve on juries.\nDoug Cannon, an IU graduate student who has served on juries, had mixed emotions on the issue. While living in California he spent an entire year as a juror for one case, during which, he said, "most of the jury was asleep."\n"You get into a Catch-22 where most students may not want to serve on juries because they're so busy," Cannon said. "But then again, they're probably more educated than the lion's share of people who make it on juries."\nEmily Park, a junior from Indianapolis, is also torn on the issue.\n"If a student were to get tried, it seems unfair to not have a jury of their peers," she said. "But for other residents of Monroe County it seems unfair for them to have a jury of students."\nThe Indiana Constitution never expressly states the right of a citizen to a trial by a jury of his or her peers.\nRather, Article I, Section 13 says: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to a public trial, by an impartial jury, in the county in which the offense shall have been committed."\nEach county does have some leeway as to exactly who makes up jury pools, Remodini said.\n"Monroe County, if they chose to, could obtain a list of students from the University," he said.\nWith the IU admissions office reporting 59 percent of the student body as Indiana residents, that means more than 22,000 in-state students could be eligible for jury duty.