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Sunday, February 13, 2011
Ind. Courts - "Budget cuts end free lunch for Lake County civil court juries"
Bill Dolan had a NWI Times story on Feb. 11th that began:
CROWN POINT | It's feast or famine for Lake County's juries.Jurors in the seven Lake Superior Court, Civil Division courts are now forced not only to seek the truth, but also hunt for their mid-day meals since the judges had to end the practice of feeding jurors on public funds under a new austerity budget.
However, free juror lunches remain on the docket in the better-funded Lake Circuit and Lake Criminal Courts.
The injustice of it reportedly stunned a civil court juror recently who had to pay for lunch in the Lake County Government Center cafeteria but watched a criminal court jury file through the same food line free of charge.
"I'm frustrated about it and embarrassed," Chief Superior Court Judge John Pera said Friday. "We struggled long and hard over every penny in our budget to see where we can cut and still provide the same level of service the public expects."
Civil Division judges said the disparity comes from 30 percent spending cuts imposed on them over the last two years that bit more deeply into their already bare bones budgets than that of other courts who commanded more tax and user fee revenues they don't share with others.
The thought of hungry jurors made Hobart lawyer Kevin Marshall so queasy this week, he and another lawyer on the opposite side of an insurance dispute dipped into their own wallets to buy jurors pizza and sandwiches during the four days they heard evidence in a trial in Civil Division Judge Gerald Svetanoff's courtroom at the Gary courthouse.
"This is making jurors in civil cases disgruntled, so the opposing counsel and I came to an agreement to anonymously pony up $100 each so the jury would get lunch," Marshall said.
He said they got permission from Chief Judge Pera as long as the jurors didn't know the lawyers were feeding them to avoid influencing their verdict.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 13, 2011 10:27 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts