Los Angeles Superior Court

Los Angeles County

www.lasuperiorcourt.org

Contact: Public Information Office 213-974-5227

Public Information Officer: Allan Parachini

NEWS

RELEASE

January 31, 2008

EDITOR’S NOTE: No courtroom photography allowed unless prearranged with Judge Lee S. Edmon. IF summoned parties agree, they may be interviewed and photographed OUTSIDE the courthouse following their court appearance.

Central District Orders Jurors

To Appear at Sanctions Hearings

los Angeles— As part of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s coordinated program to encourage voluntary participation in jury service, Civil Departments Supervising Judge Lee S. Edmon will convene juror sanction hearings for Central District citizens who did not respond to jury-service notices mailed on three separate occasions to their last known address.

The sanction hearings will be at 10 a.m. on three Tuesdays during February – Feb. 5, 19 and 26 – and at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 14, in Department 1, room 534, fifth floor, Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill St. 90012. The jurors to whom notices were mailed in the Central District are among thousands who may face stiff fines, plus a new jury service assignment.

“Sanctions are a last resort, but even at that late date, monetary sanctions may not be imposed if a person agrees to serve. The Court’s priority is having the people

.More-More-More

Central District Sanctions

Page 2

January 31, 2008

cooperate with us to ensure that jury service is shared by all eligible citizens in Los Angeles County, as mandated by the Legislature,” said Presiding Judge J. Stephen Czuleger.

“The Court has no interest whatsoever in using these sanctions as a source of money,” said Czuleger.

Because a 1999 court rule established One Trial Jury Service, jurors now summoned for jury duty need only be present at a courthouse for a single day of jury selection. Although members of a jury panel may be asked to return the following day, all others in the jury assembly room will be excused at the end of the day with their jury duty obligation completed for at least 12 months.

If chosen for a jury however, a juror must serve until a decision is reached.

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