Erickson v. Superior Court of Placer Cty.

Opinion

PUGLIA, P. J.

Petitioner (defendant) seeks a writ of prohibition restraining respondent superior court from conducting any further proceedings involving selection of a jury in defendant’s pending trial.

Defendant is charged with two counts of second degree murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 189) and two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated (Pen. Code, § 191.5, subd. (a)). Respondent court filed

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an order directing “that the jury in [this] case will be selected in accordance with Court Ops Memo #75, and the names and personal identification information of the prospective jurors will remain confidential.” Thereafter, defendant timely filed this petition for writ of prohibition. We stayed implementation of Court Ops Memo No. 75 pending receipt of opposition and further order of this court. The People filed a response asserting the petition should be granted and respondent court filed opposition to the petition. We advised the parties that we are considering a peremptory writ in the first instance. We shall issue a peremptory writ of prohibition.

In promulgating Court Ops Memo No. 75, respondent superior court purports to extend sealing of juror identifying information throughout all civil and criminal proceedings, in effect adopting a procedure ensuring anonymity of jurors absent granting of a petition for access to personal juror identifying information.

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Subdivision (a)(2) of Code of Civil Procedure section 237 was amended in 1995 to read: “Upon the recording of a jury’s verdict in a criminal jury

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proceeding, the court’s record of personal juror identifying information of trial jurors, as defined in Section 194, consisting of names, addresses, and telephone numbers, shall be sealed until further order of the court as provided by this section.” Subdivision (f) of Code of Civil Procedure section 206 provides: “Pursuant to Section 237, a defendant or defendant’s counsel may, following the recording of a jury’s verdict in a criminal proceeding, petition the court for access to personal juror identifying information within the court’s records necessary for the defendant to communicate with jurors for the purpose of developing a motion for new trial or any other lawful purpose. This information consists of jurors’ names, addresses, and telephone numbers. The court shall consider all requests for personal juror identifying information pursuant to Section 237.” Subdivisions (b), (c) and (d) of Code of Civil Procedure section 237 set forth the procedure for seeking access to personal juror identifying information sealed after return of jury verdict. The statute does not authorize sealing of juror identifying information at any stage of a civil action or at any stage of a criminal action prior to return of jury verdict.