Judge warns: Jury duty or jail
A potential juror in the upcoming death penalty murder trial of a Gary man narrowly avoided jail herself Thursday.
Lake Criminal Court Judge Thomas P. Stefaniak Jr. ordered his administrator Martin Goldman to arrest a woman who failed to fill out a questionnaire the court mailed to 500 potential jurors earlier this year.
The form is to help lawyers decide who to pick to hear evidence against defendant Kevin Isom.
Stefaniak gave the unidentified woman a chance to come to court Thursday to explain herself, but she failed to appear during the pretrial hearing. Stefaniak said he was prepared to send the woman to jail if she continued in her refusal.
However, the woman finally showed up at the Lake County court building late Thursday morning with a completed questionnaire, which got her out of further trouble.
Stefaniak ordered Goldman to provide the court with demographics, including home addresses, of another 44 potential jurors who haven't filled out juror qualification forms.
Stefaniak said Thursday he is going to unprecedented lengths to ensure Isom receives a fair trial from a jury of his peers.
Isom is pleading innocent to charges he fatally shot his wife of 12 years, Cassandra Isom, 40, and her two children, Michael Moore, 16, and Ci'Andria Cole, 13, on Aug. 6, 2007, at the family's Lakeshore Dunes apartment in Gary's Miller section.
Defense lawyers said they are concerned about getting enough blacks on the jury because Isom is black. Blacks represent 26 percent of Lake County's population, according to the 2010 census.
The trial is expected to begin the week of Sept. 26 and could last into mid-October. The jury will be sequestered for the trial's duration.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/l...#ixzz1U6uKE2Sf
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