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4 ¦ MARCH 22, 2021 NEWS

¦ From LAWYERS on PAGE 1 of the diversity of jury pools in the Judicial Branch’s
As of March 1, the Kaiser Family Foundation statement.
noted that 41 states were reporting vaccination data With regard to questions over juror diversity by
via race and ethnicity. The foundation stated that “as the projected restart date, Underhill said Tuesday:
observed in prior weeks, there is a consistent pat- “We don’t know until we see a pattern of whether
tern across states of Blacks and Hispanic people minorities will be over- or underrepresented be-
receiving smaller shares of vaccinations, compared cause of the pandemic. We will probably have to see
to their shares of cases and deaths and compared to three or four or five jury selections before we see if
their shares of the total population.” there is a problem. And if there is a problem, we will
And, according to a February NPR report, “a lin- put our heads together and figure out why there is
gering mistrust of the medical system makes some a problem and what we can do about it. I’m hope-
Black Americans more hesitant to sign up for CO- ful and confident we are going to get representative
VID-19 vaccines. It has played out in early data that juries, but it’s been a crazy year-plus.”
show a stark disparity in whom Rueckert, an attorney for 22
is getting shots in this country— years, is taking part in a March
more than 60% going to white 26 Connecticut Public Interest
people, and less than 6% to Afri- Law Journal symposium titled
can-Americans.” “Does an Impartial Jury Exist? An
“Between the safety of
Some in the legal community the lawyers and the jurors Analysis of Implicit Bias in Jury
and on the front line of getting Selection.”
people of color vaccinated support and the defendants and Rueckert said diverse juries are
delaying jury selection until it can court personnel, and the
be guaranteed there’s an adequate a must for a fair outcome.
jury pool of people from all com- defendant’s right to a “From the defense side, it’s es-
munities. fair trial, I’d be in favor
of delaying jury trials to sential that you pick a diverse jury
“Between the safety of the get a cross section of the on criminal matters, and that’s a
lawyers and the jurors and the de- community on juries,” said jury that has a diversity of back-
ground, a diversity of experience
fendants and court personnel and Morgan Rueckert, a partner and a diversity of thought. It makes
the defendant’s right to a fair tri- at Shipman & Goodwin. for a better decision-making
al, I’d be in favor of delaying jury body,” Rueckert said Tuesday. “We
trials to get a cross section of the are in unchartered territory. While
community on juries,” Morgan it’s essential that a defendant get
Rueckert, a partner and defense the fair trial they are entitled to, at
attorney at Shipman & Goodwin, said. the same time, if we go forward and the juries that
Echoing Rueckert was Herron Gaston, a minister are empaneled are not diverse, that creates its own
at a Bridgeport church and third-year law student at issues.”
Quinnipiac University School of Law.
“I am in favor of delaying trials until we can get Outreach
the vaccine in larger numbers into the inner city,” For his part, Gaston said he spends 10 to 16 hours
said Gaston, the vice president of the Black Law Stu- a week doing outreach in Bridgeport, trying to con-
dent Association at the university. vince minorities there to get vaccinated.
Rhonda Hebert, a spokeswoman for Connecticut’s Gaston said there are two reasons for the slower
Judicial Branch, said jury trials will start no sooner pace of vaccinations among people of color: A dis-
than May 3. “The Judicial Branch will resume jury trust of government in administering the vaccines
trials when it is safe to do so, based upon public and a lack of access to the vaccine in some commu-
safety guidelines,” she said. There was no mention nities.

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