The Denver Post

County tackles jury duty
Record number of summonses set for Bryant case
By Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 -

Eagle - With Kobe Bryant's sexual-assault trial expected to begin as early as August, the court plans to issue the highest number of jury summonses in Eagle County history.

A two-day pretrial hearing in the Los Angeles Lakers guard's case wrapped up Tuesday.

State judicial official Karen Salaz said between 800 and 1,500 summonses will be sent out 45 to 60 days before potential jurors are to report.

Normally, 225 to 250 are sent out in this county of 42,000 people, she said.

The people receiving the summonses will be picked from voter registration, driver's license and income tax rolls.

A computer will select them at random, Salaz said.

Salaz said the earliest state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle may set a trial date is during a status conference among the lawyers on June 30 - one year to the day of the alleged assault on a worker at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards.

"The judge wants it to be a firm date," Salaz said. "He doesn't want to be postponing it."

Several legal analysts said sending out so many summonses is wise.

Jeralyn Merritt, who was on Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's defense team, said such a high number of people must be summoned because of overwhelming pretrial publicity and because the alleged victim is from Eagle.

"This is a judicially and economically sound move," Merritt said. "People know her personally or know someone who knows her. You will never find jurors who don't know about the case and the details."

People must be found who can put aside what they have heard and base their verdict solely on what they hear in the courtroom, Merritt said.

"There is a far greater chance of finding such jurors with 1,000 summonses than 250," she said.

Dan Recht, a Denver defense attorney, said everyone summoned will know about the case. It is up to the defense to find people who say they have formed no opinion, he said.

Recht predicted jury selection will be an "ordeal" but said he thinks a fair jury can be seated.

Salaz revealed Ruckriegle's plans to find a fair jury Tuesday as lawyers and the judge concluded a series of closed- door hearings concerning whether to allow the accuser's sexual history at trial, and whether the jury can hear evidence that the accuser and her family received money for counseling and to relocate to several states to avoid harassment, including death threats.

Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com .