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Some jurisdictions eliminated the paid posts because juror lists compiled by computers.
What is a jury commissioner, and why do we need one?
It’s a question that’s been debated for years in Luzerne County and across the state because the computerization of jury selection may have rendered the row office obsolete.
Discussion about the value of the position will likely intensify in light of Tuesday’s federal charges against Luzerne County Jury Commissioner Jerry Bonner.
The post, which pays $10,112 each per year in addition to health care coverage, was created more than 125 years ago to help prepare potential juror lists for criminal and civil trials.
But computers now allow juror lists to be compiled in a snap from the driver’s license database.
Luzerne County’s jury commissioners are required to attend only one meeting per year, in which the court discusses authorization to request a fresh list of potential juror names from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, court officials say.
Don Tedesco, the court’s staff jury management supervisor, said the county orders a list of about 200,000 jurors from the state’s drivers’ license database annually.
The state supplies a computer disc with the names, and a county computer program randomly selects about 40,000, Tedesco said.
County judges request jurors as trials are scheduled.
For a typical week of criminal trials, Tedesco sends summons to about 700 jurors.
Bonner, the Democratic jury commissioner, could not be reached for comment on several attempts. Republican Jury Commissioner Frank Semanski also could not be reached.
In the past, Bonner has said the post involves more than an occasional meeting. He said he fielded hundreds of calls annually from residents with questions or concerns about jury duty, including conflicting schedules and illnesses.
But Tedesco said he and court staffers handle that duty.
Court administration has the authority to decide who gets excused from serving jury duty – not jury commissioners, officials say.
Prospective jurors may be excused if they are elderly, have health problems, or financial struggles that prevent them from missing work, Tedesco said.
State lawmakers have been circulating bills that would eliminate the posts or give counties the option of deciding if they want to keep jury commissioners.
The County Commissioners’ Association of Pennsylvania supports such legislation, saying the jury commissioner requirement is an unfunded mandate.
“We think this is something that would save counties money,” said association Director Doug Hill.
Two counties, York and Dauphin, secured legislative authority through a limited state law to put the item up for referendum. Voters in both counties opted to eliminate the position in 1998.
Lackawanna County abolished jury commissioners and assigned the duties to its court administrator when the county switched to home rule in the early 1970s.
Luzerne County’s 2003 proposed home rule charter, which was defeated, would have eliminated jury commissioner posts. The issue will likely be revisited by the current commission studying a possible county home rule form of government.
Luzerne County minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban has supported elimination of the jury commissioners in the past. He said this week that jury commissioners should be required to do more work if the county is forced to keep them.