All White Jury: State justices to review Santa Barbara county's jury process

State Supreme Court justices decided Wednesday to review the way juries are selected in Santa Barbara County to determine whether the process is unconstitutional because Latinos are consistently under-represented. The decision came in response to defense lawyer Robert Sanger's challenge to a state appellate court ruling that jury selection here is "race neutral" and therefore not discriminatory. It is not clear if the Supreme Court decision means that local cases will be delayed until the high court rules, which could take many months. Earlier, more than 60 cases had been put on hold waiting for the appellate court decision. Justices from the 2nd District Court of Appeal had found in June that there was no evidence that Latinos are significantly or systematically excluded from juries here. The Court of Appeal overruled Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa, who decided in November that the selection process was unconstitutional. He made his decision after considering data showing that while 14 percent of the Latino population here is eligible to serve, juries are made up of only 7 percent to 8 percent Latinos. [more ]