Louisiana Voice

Even as the media bemoans the harsh reality that efforts to reinstitute Jim Crow in places like Texas, Florida, Georgia, and elsewhere are succeeding, the harsher reality is the unofficial exclusion of blacks never left the nation’s court systems as it pertains to jury selection.

In fact, the courts have taken the concept up a notch or two by quietly excluding anyone, black, brown, yellow or poor white, who just didn’t fit into the establishment’s perception of how justice should be administered.

The revelation by LouisianaVoice this week of the manner in which the 26^th Judicial District, comprised of the parishes of Bossier and Webster, has for years manipulated the jury selection process in favor of the prosecution may encompass more than just a single judicial district in Louisiana.

A 107-page REPORT by the Equal Justice Initiative titled Race and the Jury: Illegal Discrimination in Jury Selection addresses the issue only in terms of race, but LouisianaVoice has found what appears to be a trend of eliminating undesirable potential jury members before they were ever even aware their names had been drawn.

Briefly, that report says people of color are excluded from juries “at every step of the jury selection process:

• When the court system creates lists of potential jurors;
• When potential jurors are notified to come to court;
• When judges decide which potential jurors are qualified to serve, and finally,
• When prosecutors use peremptory strikes to remove potential jurors.

The practice does not appear to be limited to racial issues as the elderly were “waived” from jury duty without ever asking to be excused by someone simply altering or forging their jury questionnaires.

Attorneys normally have a predetermined number of peremptory challenges, whereby a potential juror may be STRUCK, or dismissed, without cause. There is no limit to challenges for cause, however.

But it is with the peremptory challenges that prosecutors have the advantage. By weeding through the venire in advance, potential jurors can be eliminated before the defense even knows who is on the list and that is what appears to have been going on in the 26^th JDC, and most likely elsewhere, for many years now and likely involves the cooperation of officials from the judiciary, prosecutors and offices of the clerks of court.

And the way it’s done doesn’t appear to be according to Hoyle, according to a report by a Texas handwriting expert.

Peggy Walla of LPR Investigations of Columbus, Texas, has 41 years’ experience in handwriting identification skills, including 12 years in forensic document examination with LPR. She has testified in numerous cases involving documents and signatures, revealing alterations or deletions.

She was retained by Gary Holder, father of Chris Holder who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2014 by a split-jury verdict. (See previous LouisianaVoice stories HERE and HERE.)

Walla examined hundreds of documents, including questionnaires sent to each potential juror over a seven-year period and determined that the answers given to at least 39 of those were written by “possibly 3-4 authors.”

She said she examined the documents for evidence of forgery, alterations, additions, or deletions and attempted to identify or eliminate persons as sources of handwriting. She factored in dozens of writing characteristics, including alignment, positioning, capitalization, cross strokes, dots, directions of strokes, patterns of pressure emphasis, size, skill, slant, slope, spacing, initial strokes, connecting and terminal strokes, tremor, hesitation of writing instrument, patching, retouching, letter groupings, unnatural tremor, distorted or natural writing and use of white-out, to name only a few of the variables.

“Writers who do not wish to be identified by their handwriting resort to disguised writing,” she wrote, adding “Originality in disguise is rare.”

“Change of slant is the most frequently used method of creating disguised writing. People who disguise their handwriting do not realize that their writing habits are so ingrained that they cannot alter them sufficiently to avoid detection.”

Accordingly, she had exhibits of page after page of questionnaires, waivers, and other documents which appeared to have been written by no more than two or three persons instead of the hundreds of persons supposedly sent notifications to. That would indicate that someone in the court system had gone through the lists of potential jurors and eliminated those who were not favorable to the prosecution – all without the knowledge or consent of those potential jurors.

As a result, the required 250 venire of petit jurors consistently fell far short of that number, capping out at 141 in one case.

Walla’s examination of documents revealed no fewer than 227 which were altered and/or forged, she said.

Her full report is included in an appeal filed with the Second Circuit Court of Appeal which is currently pending. And while it’s still uncertain as to who ordered that the documents be altered or forged, it would appear that more than one person was involved.

Just how many judicial districts in Louisiana are involved in similar activity cannot be known without extensive district by district audits.

TOMORROW: Holder’s appeal is filed by a heavy hitter in the legal community.

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The argument could be made, I suppose, that because I don’t have a dog in this hunt, I probably should just butt out but I just can’t let the actions of a Florida legislator go without commenting on what a petty, vindictive, miserable s.o.b. State Rep. RANDY FINE has to be.

Yes, I’m keenly aware that he will probably never read this to know to what degree of total disgust and contempt I hold him in, but I’m saying it even if the only person whose feelings it assuages are mine.

Fine, a Republican supporter of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s fight with Disney, has labeled himself as one of Hillary Clinton’s true deplorables by using the Special Olympics as a weapon to reek some sort of sick revenge over a local school board member with whom he apparently has issues.

That’s just about as despicable as one can ever get. It’s probably some sort of new depth to which an elected official can dive in the sewer of political spats.

Fine, who sponsored a bill punishing Disney over the state’s LGBTQ education law, attempted to pull the rug of financial FUNDING out from under the Special Olympics for the city of West Melbourne, because school board member Jennifer Jenkins was invited to a fundraising event and he wasn’t.

Seriously? Someone should bitch-slap this sanctimonious little saggy-jowl twit just for general principle.

At the same time, he also threatened to pull funding for a flood risk reduction project in West Melbourne – all because he (wait for it) doesn’t like Jenkins, whom he referred to as a “whore” in a text to West Melbourne City Council member John Dittmore.

Apparently, his dislike of Jenkins stems from Jenkins’s support for school mask requirements and other Covid safety measures during the pandemic. Well, that’s certainly justification for cutting funding for Special Olympics and flood protection. Nothing there to remind us of the small-mindedness of the type people who support the likes of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

Of course, Dandy Randy tried to spin the confabulation in his favor by the tried-and-true Trumpian method: denial.

He predictably denied that the conversation ever took place and said he never threatened to ask DeSantis to veto funding for anything.

But he did an equally predictably stupid thing: he put his threat in writing in the form of a (ahem) text. (Oh, when will they ever learn about that damn social media?)

The messages to Dittmore were released by West Melbourne city attorney Morris Richardson as part of a public records from (who else?) Jenkins.

“Jenkins just put your project (flood protection) and Special Olympics funding on the veto list,” he wrote in a text to the city councilman. In another text (one is never enough), he told Dittmore that it would be “smart” to cancel the event with an “apology for wading into politics.”

“You guys will have to raise a lot of money given that’s who you want to honor, not the person who got you money in the budget,” he wrote.

But Fine never threatened anyone, don’t you see?

Jenkins somehow managed to take the high road in this messy affair. “I’m not surprised by it,” she said. “It’s typical for someone to attack a woman with sexual innuendos when they are threatened by their strength.”

I suppose this ugly episode does deflect attention from Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, another of those Trumpian Republicans who one wit said never had a high school sweetheart until he was 38.

But unfortunately, it does not conceal the sad truth that Florida is doing a deep dive into authoritarianism, hoping to take the entire country with it in the process.

The only hope is that with both residing in Florida and both seemingly casting solicitous eyes toward the White House, they will be successful only in destroying each other and perhaps leave the door open for a decent Republican (if there is one left out there) to fill the void.

And the Democrats had better start looking for a strong (and younger) candidate of their own.

Venire

və-nī′rē, -nîr′ē

noun

1. A writ issued by a judge to a sheriff directing the summons of prospective jurors.
2. The panel of prospective jurors from which a jury is selected.

Article 408 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the State of Louisiana says in part:

In parishes other than Orleans, the jury commission shall select impartially at least three hundred (300) persons having the qualifications to serve as jurors, who shall constitute the general venire. A list of persons so selected shall be prepared and certified by the clerk of court as the general venire list, and said list shall be kept as part of the records of the commission. The name and address of each person on the list shall be written on a separate slip of paper, with no designation as to race or color, which shall be placed in a box labeled “General Venire Box.” (Emphasis added.)

The law further says that the jury commission “shall meet” at least once every six months (or when ordered by the court) to supplement the General Venire after deletions of those who have died or otherwise become disqualified to serve.

Petit jury members are drawn from the General Venire. A petit jury is a regular trial jury, assembled to determine criminal or civil liability.

Article 416 says of the drawing of a petit jury venire:

A petit jury venire for the first week of a session shall not be drawn from a general venire containing less than two hundred fifty (250) names, and no petit jury venire for any subsequent week shall be drawn from a general venire containing less than one hundred fifty (150) names. (Emphasis added.)

Gary Holder, is a retired military and commercial airline pilot whose son, Chris, was convicted of second-degree murder in a 2014 split-jury verdict. The victim was Chris’s mother and Gary Holder’s wife, a physician. The elder Holder is convinced his son was misdiagnosed at age 15 and was administered 34 major psychotropic drugs over the next five-plus years, some of which were clearly labeled not to be given patients under the age of 18 and to avoid combining medications.

He said Chris went into what was diagnosed as a “prescription drug-induced schizophrenic rage” that led to his killing his mother.

He also feels his son received inadequate legal representation and that the defense attorney failed to request a continuance of the trial when the Holders’ expert witness encountered a conflict during the week of trial. He also says the original defense attorney failed to object to the method of jury selection.

Gary Holder spent seven years researching court records after he received word from a friend who told him the jury selection in his son’s trial in Bossier Parish had been manipulated. He said he subsequently discovered some significant – and alarming – information:

The 26^th Judicial District, comprised of the parishes of Bossier and Webster:

• Has no records of the construction of the General Venire or of the Qualified General Venire;
• Has no records of any requests to be excused from jury duty;
• Has no records of the mailing of questionnaires/summonses or their return;
• Only 45 potential jurors were chosen for the Grand Jury venire, rather than the minimum of 50 persons required by law.
• Records of unserved or excused members are inadequate or non-existent.

Holder researched seven venires over those seven years and discovered that on the first day of session in all of the venires he examined, “the maximum number of jurors is 141 and it should have been 250. Every venire that was examined showed that they were far under the number 250.”

Moreover, Holder noted that on the questionnaire and summonses that were sent out to each potential juror, a statement at the bottom of the form said, “If you request to be excused you must provide and attach to this questionnaire a current letter from your doctor if an illness or a handicap prevents you from serving as a juror. Requests to be excused from jury duty for any reason must be in writing and mail to the judge’s office…” (Emphasis added.)

“There were 409 potential jurors that were excused,” Holder said. “Of that 409, there were only 144 letters requesting to be excused and of those requesting to be excused, only 89 had a signed letter by the judge. Of all those excused, there was never any supplementation of the General Venire for those individuals that were excused,” he added.

In the movie The Runaway Jury, based on the John Grisham book of the same title, there is a scene in which a blind man approached the bench to inquire of the judge as to why he was not considered for jury duty. The judge explained that he was not required to serve because of his handicap. But the man persisted, saying the court was guilty of discrimination because he had not requested a waiver and indeed, wished to be considered.

He was subsequently chosen and was selected as foreman of the jury.

While purely fiction, the episode does provide an object lesson that could be applied to the 26^th JDC and quite possibly other judicial districts as well. Pursuant to the Louisiana Constitution, persons 70 years of age or older may claim an exemption for jury duty based on age if they do not wish to serve. But there is no requirement that they be excused.

In fact, Article 783 of the Code of Criminal Procedure says in no uncertain terms:

No person or group of persons shall be automatically excused. (Emphasis added.)

In the seven venires examined by Holder, “every juror over the age of 70 was summarily dismissed and there is no documentation showing any request to be excused. There were 77 jurors over the age of 70 that were summarily dismissed. Not a single one of those sent in any request to be excused,” Holder said.

Finally, Article 416.1 says in part:

The questionnaire may constitute part of the sheriff’s return and may be made part of the record. When served in accordance with this Section, a person may be cited for contempt for failing to appear in response to the subpoena. (Emphasis added.)

“Of the seven venires that were examined, on the first day of the session(s) there were 71 no-shows but…only 10 writs that were issued for those 71 no-shows. Of the remaining 61 no-shows, there is no record of any request to be excused,” Holder said. “Why (were) these individuals excused and who authorized their excuses? Were they told in advance they didn’t have to appear?”

Holder saved his most inflammatory accusation for last.

“A request was made to LPR Investigations, a (Texas) forensic document and handwriting examination private investigative firm specializing in forensic document examination and handwriting identification investigations,” he said.

“LPR Investigations scanned 26^th JDC notice jury questionnaires and associated documents. More than 227 documents were discovered to have been altered and/or forged. LPR Investigations submitted seven reports on jury questionnaire authentication and accomplished a forensic report on each venire,” he said.

TOMORROW: What were those alterations? What was forged?

We’re in the final days of our semi-annual fundraiser and as we enter those last days, LouisianaVoice is revealing alleged manipulations in the state’s jury system – or at least in the 26th Judicial District which encompasses Bossier and Webster parishes.

Serious charges, to be sure, but a story that no one else seems to want to delve into because it takes a lot of time and legwork. And with any research project, there are expenses – travel, legal filings, and document copies.

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Those giving $100 or more will receive a signed copy of my latest book, It’s All TheIRS, a novel about a man who decides to fight the IRS and which, while a work of fiction, actually contains real accounts of IRS bullying of American citizens as the only legalized domestic terrorist organization.

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As always, thanks for being you.