A Houston criminal defense attorney wants his fellow members of the defense bar to take a stand against the jury system in Harris county, one case at a time. Clint Harmon is handing out fill-in-the-blank form motions to other defense attorneys and asking them to file the motions in their ongoing cases. According to the Houston Chronicle article, the motions "argue" that the jury system is unfair because jury pools do not adequately reflect the composition of the Houston area. Last month, Houston Chronicle investigation showed that only 20% of individuals summoned for jury duty show up and that individuals from high-income neighborhoods were seven times more likely to show up than individuals from low-income neighborhoods.
Of course, as the article quotes others as saying, we don't have a right to a jury of people that look like us, but I can see how this survey casts some doubt on a system fraught with problems. The article did point out that the $6 a day jury fee was the lowest in the country. By contrast, Wisconsin pays $16 a day. I'm not sure if that amount would be determinative, though. Ten dollars more does not compensate you if you fear losing your day worker job or if you have no childcare.
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