Stevens ordered to stop dismissing jury panels

A Court of Appeals opinion has ordered Jefferson Circuit Judge Olu Stevens to stop dismissing jury panels he believes aren’t reflective of the community, a practice in question in a case pending before the state Supreme Court.

The ruling Wednesday stems from Feb. 9, when Stevens agreed to dismiss a jury panel of 41 that included only three African Americans at the request of a black defendant's public defenders who said the panel wasn't representative of the community's diversity.

Prosecutors objected, saying the jurors were properly selected without evidence of "systematic exclusion or purposeful discrimination."

In an order penned by Court of Appeals Judge Irv Maze, Stevens was told his actions violated both U.S. and Kentucky Supreme Court precedent.

“This practice must cease unless or until the law of this Commonwealth changes,” Maze wrote.

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Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine asked the state Court of Appeals last month to order Stevens to stop the practice.

The Court of Appeals judges ruled defense attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence to show that there was systematic exclusion, and therefore, Stevens should not have granted their motion.

At the Feb. 9 jury selection, Stevens weighed the motion from defendant Charles Evans Jr.’s public defenders Clay Kennedy and Sheila Seadler after hearing testimony from both the local court's jury administrator and the head of the Jefferson County Racial Fairness Commission.

Race is not captured in some steps of the jury selection process in Jefferson County and where it is recorded, it's voluntarily collected, the testimony showed.

Defense attorneys argued it was, therefore, impossible to prove their point with data and that the system itself is discriminatory.

Agreeing, Stevens granted the motion to dismiss the panel — the group of 40 to 50 potential jurors that are selected from the larger pool and assigned to a courtroom — and summon a new one.

Further explaining his decision in a written response, Stevens said the state's failure to keep racial data on its database from which potential jurors are drawn "is a purposeful omission."

The higher court opined that the lack of data kept by the state, “while unfortunate, does not amount to a deliberate attempt to exclude any particular group.”

While Evans’ public defenders argued the prosecution’s motion was moot, given the jury panel in question had already been sent home, the Court of Appeals said it was obligated to address “this broader issue” that it said prosecutors can reasonably expect to face again.

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“…there is an apparent and immediate need among the Jefferson County bench and bar for guidance on this important matter until our Supreme Court certifies the law within the foreseeable future,” the order reads.

The three-member panel also included Court of Appeals Judges Donna Dixon and Joy Kramer, who concurred with Maze.

A case before the Kentucky Supreme Court seeks to clarify this very issue. It arose out of Stevens’ dismissal of an October 2014 jury panel that the defendant’s attorney argued was not representative of the community because of a lack of racial diversity.

Prosecutors then asked the state Supreme Court to clarify if a judge had the power to do so when there isn't evidence of discrimination by the prosecution in jury selection.

Then, last fall, Stevens made a number of posts on his personal Facebook page, both explaining his reasoning for dismissing the panel and attacking Wine and his office for going to the state Supreme Court.

Wine eventually asked the state's chief justice late last year to remove Stevens from all criminal cases, saying the social media messages showed Stevens was unable to be fair to his office.

Those posts ultimately led to the state’s Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. to refer the matter to the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission for possible disciplinary action.

That case is still before the commission.

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com.