New Volunteers Help Ease the Anxiety and Confusion of a Court Summons

VAN NUYS — Mike Singer sometimes knows a juror’s question before they ask it.

It’s all in the approach, he said.

Take the man with the untucked button-down shirt and the uncombed hair. He approaches quickly, his eyes flashing from his handful of papers to Singer and back to the papers.

“He wants out,” Singer said as the man approached.

A moment later, the man said his piece.

“I was told I could be excused from jury duty.”

It’s Singer’s job to find out if the man can leave the jury assembly room at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Van Nuys. It’s also his job to tell people where to sit, what papers to fill out and where they might get a cold drink.

And, until Monday, no one ever had that job in this state, perhaps even in the country.

Singer is a docent for the court’s Jury Docent Program, the first of its kind in California. He and seven other volunteers are the answer men and women for jurors at the downtown and Van Nuys courts. They are retirees, involved in volunteerism, who for the most part had good experiences as jurors themselves.

“We’re here to make things a little easier on the jurors,” said Marge Yobs, one of the four docents in Van Nuys. “Coming to the courts can be an intimidating experience. You look for someone to help you out, but there is no one to ask. Now, there is someone to ask: Us.”

Monday was the program’s first official day, although the docents had been involved in on-the-job training since mid-September. The docents will be on duty at the court three days a week, including every Monday when 250 potential jurors wait to be called while reading books, assembling puzzles or watching the court’s video about jury duty.

Just before 8 a.m. Monday, potential jurors stood in line outside the courthouse, some rubbing their arms to generate a bit of warmth in the cold morning air.

As soon as a potential juror came through the metal detector, Yobs and Sylvia Monshine, clad in their uniform maroon blazers and black skirts, greeted and directed him to the assembly room.

“It may not seem like much, but it is,” said Beverly Russell, analyst for the Van Nuys Juror Services Division. “Instead of these people standing around feeling lost, they are told where to go. That is one less thing they have to worry about.”

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That is exactly what the creators had in mind when they developed the program--make jury duty a little easier on the juror, who often wants nothing to do with it.

About four years ago the Van Nuys Task Force, a special court organization made up of community members and court personnel aimed at improving the system, developed the idea for a customer service program that stressed making jury duty more comfortable.

Last year, the task force presented a modified version, the docent program, to the Juror Services Division. The new version called for volunteer assistants who know what is expected of jurors, not just where the cafeteria is located.

Once the plan was approved by the Juror Services Division, the court notified local seniors’ organizations, interviewed applicants and began training the chosen eight--four for Van Nuys and four for the downtown courts. Since September, the docents have gone through class sessions and on-the-job training.

“There was a definite need for this,” said Thomas Schneider, supervising judge of the court.

What is unique about the docent program and why it was pushed through as fast as it was, is its cost to the system--virtually nothing.

Even the jackets were free, donated by Earl Bradley, a task force member and the administrator for Newhall Municipal Court.

“The public got involved, came up with a good idea and the government listened,” Schneider said.

Officials have such high hopes for the program that they see it hitting Santa Monica early next year and spreading throughout California soon after.

And the jurors seem to like it, too.

“I haven’t had one person not smile at me or not say thank you,” Yobs said.

Back in the corner of the assembly room, seated behind a table covered in pamphlets explaining the obligations of jury duty, Singer and fellow docent Howard Steinhardt hoped they could improve jury duty’s bad reputation.

“I served several times and it always frustrated the heck out of me,” Steinhardt said. “It’s bad enough you’re missing work, you don’t need any more aggravation.”