Widening pool could hurt juries

Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007 | 7:28 a.m.

Brian Eckhouse

Las Vegas Sun

There's always been a potential for noncitizens to sneak onto juries, but the probability could increase come spring.

The number of noncitizens - including illegal immigrants - summoned to the Regional Justice Center could surge, perhaps exponentially, when a new law kicks in that widens the jury pool to all who have Nevada Power bills in Clark County. The law is the result of a 2002 recommendation by the state Supreme Court's jury improvement commission to increase diversity among jurors, which corresponds with new federal standards.

"Some people don't have ID cards or driver's licenses - maybe they don't drive - but everyone has power," said Kathy Hardcastle, the presiding judge of the Regional Justice Center.

It's unlikely the commission sought a true cross-section of the state, which would include illegal immigrants. Noncitizens, of course, cannot serve on juries.

But if noncitizens aren't filtered out during the jury selection process, that could happen. Trials, some worry, could be jeopardized.

"I see mistrial written all over that," said Julia Osborne, a local immigration attorney.

In any event, said District Attorney David Roger, "it'd be a tremendous waste of time and resources."

Under the current system, only residents - citizens or not - with driver's licenses, "green cards" or identification cards can be summoned. There are fewer potential jurors in the existing system, but it, too, has been problematic. For one, not all who are summoned can legally serve. And then there is the question of residency.

"How do you prove the negative?" said Peter Ashman, a Las Vegas immigration attorney. "How do you prove someone is here illegally?"

Today, District Court administrators estimate that overall 0.5 percent of those summoned for jury duty are immigrants lacking citizenship. Of the 1,501 summoned there on Dec. 12, 63 were not citizens.

Most undocumented residents prefer to avoid the courthouse, local immigration attorneys say, for fear they will be prosecuted.

These residents can sometimes avoid confessing their illegal immigration status to a judge by filling out a juror questionnaire or phoning the court.

Some, however, will be called before a judge and asked about their status. Anyone - legal resident or not - who fails to show up in court without an approved excuse or disqualification on three consecutive occasions is subject to arrest.

Thus far, judges and their bailiffs have not penalized those who have confessed their illegal immigration status in the courthouse, and Metro Police officers have no authority to arrest someone for simply being undocumented.

"We don't prosecute," Hardcastle said. "We're not an enforcement agency."

But as the federal government tries to crack down on illegal immigration, some fear law enforcement officials observing the jury selection process could note the confessions of the undocumented.

All states undoubtedly have dispensed driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but most have tightened access to licenses and identification cards, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In September, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer tried to issue licenses to all residents - legal or not - but the policy change was overwhelmingly opposed. Giving undocumented residents licenses, Spitzer had contended, would ensure greater regulation of the roads and lead to lower insurance rates.

Nevada has clamped down recently, after admittedly having loose laws before 9/11, said Kevin Malone, the public information officer for the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Until 2004, Nevada officials wouldn't request identification papers from applicants for licenses if they already had one from another state.

"If an illegal got a license elsewhere, we had to issue him one here," Malone said.

Now, everyone seeking a license must produce identification papers. Social Security numbers provided by applicants are checked online against those of the federal Social Security Administration.

But the DMV's new policy isn't bulletproof. Fraudulent documents sometimes go undetected, Malone said. And for at least six more months, all residents - legal or not - who have licenses can have them renewed without any intervention.

Nevada Power officials say they closely scrutinize potential clients.

New customers must provide a Social Security number when signing up over the phone. Those numbers then are validated with Equifax, said Vern Christensen, Nevada Power's manager of customer care.

If denied, a potential customer must produce a photo identification.

"If there's some real discrepancies, we do go further," said Christensen, who thinks the utility's system is at least 99 percent effective.

Bill Cassel, spokesman for Metro, said the utility should take catching discrepancies seriously, if for no other reason than its profits. But, he added, people with sophisticated technology and motivation can sneak through.