Garcetti Gets to See Courtroom From Other Side--as a Juror

The distinguished gray-haired man in the pea-green suit looked strangely out of place Thursday among would-be jurors waiting for case assignments in the Santa Monica Courthouse lounge.

That’s because this courtroom regular is used to being on the other side of the legal equation--the side that prosecutes criminal defendants.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti patiently sat among the masses Thursday afternoon, biding his time, waiting to serve his civic duty.

Said Garcetti, who wore a red-and-white plastic juror badge affixed to the lapel of his suit coat: “This is certainly a first for me.” (At least it is the first time since he became district attorney. According to his spokeswoman, Garcetti served as a juror two decades ago while a deputy district attorney.)

It was Garcetti’s third day as a would-be panelist. On Tuesday, the 56-year-old West Los Angeles resident was considered for a civil court “slip and fall” case.

“I was accepted by the defense attorney,” he said, “but the plaintiff’s attorney took one look at me and said, ‘Uh-uh, no way.’ ”

Garcetti’s appearance Tuesday inspired some chuckles from the judge and other jurors. Asked one panelist: “Do you really think you’re going to be chosen as a juror?”

Answered Garcetti: “If they want somebody fair and impartial.”

Garcetti said he received his jury summons a few months ago. So, was he miffed?

“Heck, I had no choice,” he said. “It was a summons, not a questionnaire.”

While resigned to the duty, he called the court clerk’s office the next day with a request that he not be asked to serve on criminal cases.

“It would be kind of moot,” he said. “The defense attorney wouldn’t allow me on a panel and it would probably put my lawyer [the prosecutor] in a difficult position. I don’t think they’d want their boss looking over their shoulder like that.”

If not selected for a case this week, Garcetti--who was widely criticized for requesting that the O.J. Simpson criminal case be transferred from Santa Monica to the downtown Criminal Courts Building--said he will request a transfer to the downtown court himself.

The reason, he said, is “so I can get the benefit of seeing how both courts work.”

Meanwhile, he said he is taking notes on his experience and may make some suggestions to the jury commissioner or presiding judge.

He already has one bone to pick.

“I think people are asked to perform jury duty for far too long a time,” he said. “My wife, for example, was supposed to serve a 10-day jury term that turned into 28 days. That’s not fair.”

Garcetti suggested that people serve for three full days and be released if not selected for a panel. If they serve during one year, he said, they should be excused from such duty for the next two to three years.

Meanwhile, like his fellow would-be jurors, he waits, skimming briefing memos on cases, perusing an analysis of a recent speech by South African President Nelson Mandela.

“The first day I saw him,” laughed Beth Rothman, a Pacific Palisades psychotherapist, “I asked, ‘What are you doing here? Can’t you get out of this? Don’t you have enough pull?’ He grinned and said, ‘No, I have to do this, too.’ ”

Added Mark Fergesen, a West Los Angeles sound engineer: “But he didn’t sound too convincing when he said it.”

At one point, a clerk called Garcetti’s name on the waiting room loudspeaker.

“Ohhhhh,” went two dozen voices in the crowd.

The top prosecutor returned to his seat a few moments later, explaining to several onlookers that he is not the first elected official in the county to be asked to serve.

“Supervisor Gloria Molina was picked for a jury not too long ago,” he said. “It was a criminal case and she came back with the proper verdict.”

Then he smiled.

“Guilty.”