The judge overseeing the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial expressed frustration Tuesday that prospective jurors aren’t returning to court when they’re supposed to.
“We have a problem,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter said after learning about 20 jurors had failed to show. “I’m going to have to make an example of some of these people.”
Tuesday’s example was Juror No. 116, who had failed to appear in court the previous day.
“How come you didn’t come?” Baxter asked.
The man, who like other prospective jurors is identified only by his number, said he lost the phone number to call for updates. “I honestly forgot,” Juror No. 116 said. “I have no excuse.”
Baxter gave the forlorn-looking juror a choice: Spend the next five days in jail or come to court every day until jury selection is finished — an estimated two weeks — and stay nearby while court is in session.
Not surprisingly, Juror No. 116 chose the latter option. A deputy then escorted him to a bench in the hallway.
All told, 600 prospective jurors have been summoned for the months-long racketeering trial against 12 former APS administrators and educators. The jurors have filled out questionnaires, received instructions and been given a sheet of paper with a number to call every night to see if they must report the next day.
Over the past week, dozens of jurors have been called back because they wrote on their questionnaires that they have financial hardships or planned vacations. Others who wrote that they could not be fair and impartial also have been summoned back for individual questioning. Many have been excused for those reasons.
But some jurors are apparently forgetting, or neglecting, to call in every day to get updates.
Baxter said he is not going to allow there to be a general public perception that people can ignore jury instructions. “The word needs to get out,” he said. “They’re going to be in trouble if they don’t have a good excuse.”
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