The Denver Post
999 summonses going in mail for Bryant trial
Friday, July 16, 2004 -
Almost 1,000 Eagle County residents will receive jury summonses early next week for the Kobe Bryant sexual-assault trial, state judicial officials said Thursday.
A total of 999 summonses were to be mailed Thursday, today and Saturday. The recipients have been computer-selected at random from driver's licenses, voter registration lists and income tax addresses, according to Karen Salaz, spokeswoman for the state judicial department. Salaz said the official "jury call" to the printing company was made Wednesday by Eagle County jury commissioner Jackie Cooper. Several Eagle residents said Thursday they would not shun jury service. Nicole Dewell, a veteran school teacher of nine years in Eagle, comes from a family of lawyers. Her father and grandfather were lawyers. "I wouldn't mind serving on the jury. It is my civic duty," Dewell said. George Henry, who works for Brush Creek Electric in Eagle, said he doubted anyone in the small town would dodge the summonses. "I'd be obligated to do it. I think that's the way it works," Henry said. "I think you will find in this community, we take our civic duty pretty seriously." The summonses are the most issued for a trial in Eagle County. Because of widespread publicity and because Eagle County is small with many vacation homes that stand vacant, officials decided to send out a higher number of summonses than usual. Normally 225 to 250 summonses are sent out in the county of 42,000 residents. Salaz said the potential jurors will report Aug. 27, and answer approximately 115 questions on a questionnaire. The answers will be duplicated and distributed to the defense and prosecution, who will study them over the weekend. The lawyers and jurors will return Aug. 30, to begin jury selection. The trial is expected to last three to four weeks. State District Judge Terry Ruckriegle, who will preside over the trial, has given the prosecution and defense a Tuesday deadline for reaching a plea bargain. Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com. |