Judges are going to find it difficult to get enough people to show up at the courthouse to conduct jury trials in Dallas and Houston as long as fear of the coronavirus exists, according to a new study.
According to a survey by the Tillotson Law Firm of 650 potential jurors in the two largest cities in Texas, more than two-thirds said they either would refuse to show up for jury duty if called or would want a significant amount of assurance that their personal health would not be at risk before they would agree to attend.
Harris and Dallas county juries during the COVID-19 pandemic would be significantly less diverse, the survey shows.
The Tillotson data found that jury pools today would comprise more white people, more men, people with more wealth, an increased number of Republicans and individuals who are considerably less friendly toward plaintiffs than juries before the crisis.
And there’s one additional warning: A significant percentage of the prospective jurors said they would be “very angry” if they were summonsed to jury duty at this time.
“We did the survey to find out who would show up for jury service – or even if people would show up – if the courts started conducting trials now,” Dallas trial lawyer Jeff Tillotson, who represents businesses that are plaintiffs and defendants in litigation, told The Texas Lawbook in an exclusive interview Sunday.
“The results show that the juries now would be far different from the juries prior to the pandemic – much less diverse,” he said.
Tillotson said the survey found that 52% of those polled in Houston said they are concerned that the courthouse is unsafe, compared to 40% of those in Dallas.
The Tillotson survey found that 21% of prospective jurors in Houston and 19% in Dallas “felt that there were ‘no measures’ that could be taken that would make them feel safe.”
Fifty-six percent of people in both cities felt that civil jury trials specifically should be delayed or not conducted until the pandemic is “better under control.”
In addition, 44% of Houstonians and 36% of Dallasites would be “very angry if called for a jury trial at this time.” The survey was conducted between June 6 and June 12.
Tillotson said the two federal judges who have conducted trials this month – U.S. Chief District Judge Barbara Lynn of the Northern District of Texas and U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant III of the Eastern District of Texas – should be commended because they showed that jury trials can be done safely.
“I applaud Judge Lynn and Judge Mazzant for going to extreme lengths for demonstrating that measures can be taken to greatly reduce the risks of the jurors and lawyers involved,” he said. “Unfortunately, those same measures cannot be replicated in state courts because there are just too many jury trials and so many more prospective jurors – hundreds of them – would need to be called for jury service.”
The survey found that 58% of potential jurors felt that social distancing should be required by court officials, while 57% said face masks should be the protocol.
Surprisingly, only 37% of those polled felt Plexiglas would make them feel safer. But Tillotson said that statistic could be because those surveyed didn’t understand how the Plexiglas would be used at trials to protect them.
The Tillotson survey found that 45% of African American respondents faced an economic hardship if they were required to participate in a multi-day jury trial – compared to only 31% of the white people in the poll.
Black people surveyed also were 30% more likely to qualify for a COVID-19 jury duty exemption, such as being in a high-risk category or working at a hospital, than white people. The jury attendance numbers for Hispanics, according to Tillotson, were only slightly better than those for African Americans.
Men, according to the survey, are 50% more inclined to show up for jury service, while Republicans are 50% more likely to go to jury duty than Democrats.
“The survey shows that the jury pool showing under during the time of COVID-19 will not be as representative of the community as it should be,” Tillotson said.
Outside of a vaccine, there are very few options for court officials regarding jury trials.
“We must educate the citizenry that the judges and the bar are putting the health and safety of the jurors first,” Tillotson said.