Monday, Nov. 7, 2005 | 8:14 a.m.
Two years ago state lawmakers passed legislation requiring district attorneys to report to the Nevada Supreme Court the number of murder and voluntary manslaughter cases filed, along with the race and gender of the defendants, victims and jurors.
However, Clark County has yet to comply with that legislation.
That made those demographic reports for 2003 and 2004 meaningless because the race of 64 percent of jurors in those cases and 29 percent of the defendants were not documented.
Unlike her counterparts in other jurisdictions, Clark County's jury commissioner does not record the race, sex or even the ZIP codes of those accused of crimes and the jurors chosen to determine their fates.
The Nevada Supreme Court's report on the demographic information for 2003 and 2004 noted that "few district attorneys reported the requested information about jury members." The collection of information was supposed to have included gender, race or ethnicity of the jurors and alternate jurors seated in murder and voluntary manslaughter cases.
The high court went on to say "a disparity appears between the reported number of jurors by race and gender due to incomplete data provided."
Clark County accounted for 78 percent of murder and voluntary manslaughter cases filed in Nevada in 2003 and 91 percent of the cases filed in 2004. Washoe County handled the second most over those calendar years with 13 percent and 4 percent respectively.
Clark County Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lalli compiled a limited amount of information from Clark County and sent those numbers to the Supreme Court.
He said prosecutors tried their best to comply with the legislature's directive regarding juror race, but he believes the jury commissioner should have been ordered to do so.
"The real problem is there are some things the district attorney's office is wonderful at, such as whether to approve a case or whether a case qualifies for the death penalty. But that's all in-house, all controlled. It's ridiculous that they ask us to make a race call on jurors," Lalli said.
The assistant district attorney said the office complied with the Legislature's order the best it could, "but prosecutors aren't race recognition experts."
Another problem Lalli cited as an obstacle to accurately reporting about the jurors was the fact there was no category specifically for Hispanics.
Prosecutors only had the ability to select American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, black, white or unknown.
"Because the way society is today, it's more and more difficult to determine someone's race, and God forbid you are wrong about someone's race because you will offend them," Lalli said. "This is a job for the jury commissioner."
Clark County Jury Commissioner Judy Rowland said her office has never been directed to keep tabs on the race or gender of jurors and said she currently doesn't have a enough staff to handle the task.
Rowland did say if the Legislature ordered her to do so and allocated the proper funds needed to hire a larger staff, she would begin recording the race and gender of jurors.
Assistant Public Defender Daren Richards said he believes there are other reasons underlying the failures to track juror demographics.
"My experience is that prosecutors continually avoid even the discussion of the race issue," Richards said. "They don't believe race is even an issue that should be looked at and that disturbs me."
Richards alleged that there are "systematic problems with race as per who gets charged with crimes." He said he believes the problems stem from the days when Las Vegas was nicknamed "the Mississippi of the West."
"Las Vegas historically has problems in the area of race relations," Richards said.
Clark County Public Defender Phil Kohn said if prosecutors and defense attorneys "had a frank discussion they'd (prosecutors) find that people of color do worse in the criminal justice system than white people do."
Lalli said the law specifically prohibits parties from selecting jurors based on their race, whether they are black or white.
"Aren't we supposed to look at the case, the evidence and listen to the testimony and have jurors that are neutral?" Lalli asked. "The criminal justice system should be color blind."
Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, sponsored the bill requiring the report regarding jurors. She said she was shocked to discover there was no categories of "Hispanic, Latino or mixed race" for prosecutors to select. She said she would be contacting the Legislature's legal staff because "that needs to be fixed."
Leslie said the Legislature "needs to bring the issue back to Carson City and have another discussion." In addition to discussing how to address the issue of including more racial categories, she believes exploring whether or not the jury commissioner is better suited to compile the data would also be high on the list.
She said she would also be examining whether penalties should be in place against prosecutors who fail to fulfill their reporting duties.
Leslie didn't suggest prosecutors intentionally failed to report the race of jurors or defendants, but did say when the bill was being created the "the district attorneys were very reluctant to agree to provide this information."
The assemblywoman said no matter what needs to be fixed, it's extremely important because the report was aimed at "ensuring justice is done and that people are judged by a jury of their peers."
Leslie didn't say juries weren't representative of the communities of Nevada, but did say the report is needed because "how can we refute the claims of a biased jury if we don't have this information."
For 2003 the report indicates 31 percent of the 163 jurors and alternates presiding over murder and voluntary manslaughter cases were white, while 3 percent were black. Clouding these findings is the fact the race for 28 percent of the jurors and alternates was reported as "unknown" and the race for 37 percent of the jurors as "not provided."
The report notes that in 2004, 36 percent of the 28 jurors and alternates seated in murder and voluntary manslaughter cases were white, while 7 percent were black. Fewer cases went to trial in 2004, and the race of 50 percent of the jurors was listed as"unknown" and another 7 percent was "not provided."
Prosecutors also failed to report the gender of 48 percent of the jurors and alternates for the 2003 cases and for 21 percent of 2004's jurors and alternates.
The report also states that 33 blacks and 30 whites were accused of committing either murder or voluntary manslaughter out of 97 cases reported by the district attorneys in 2003. The race of 28 defendants was reported as "unknown" for 2003.
In 2004, 25 blacks and 48 whites were charged with either murder or voluntary manslaughter out of 102 cases filed by the district attorneys in the nine judicial districts of Nevada.
The race of 29 defendants was reported as "unknown" for the 2004 cases.
Eighty-seven percent of the defendants were men and were an average of 31 years old, according to the report.
Whites made up the largest percentage of murder and voluntary manslaughter victims -- 39 percent in 2003 and 53 percent in 2004, according to the report.
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