Immigration issues dominate jury selection in Guatemalan's case against Stuart hospital
By Melissa E. Holsman
Thursday, July 2, 2009



STUART — The often hot button issue of illegal immigration and opinions about undocumented workers living in America dominated much of jury selection Thursday for a trial pitting a brain-damaged Guatemalan man against Martin Memorial Medical Center.

Since Monday, a pool of about 155 potential jurors has been reduced to 23, with dozens being dismissed for expressing strong opinions against the false imprisonment lawsuit former patient Luis Jimenez and his guardian filed against the hospital after Martin Memorial chartered a jet in 2003 to return him to Guatemala following two years of unpaid medical care.

The hospital took the action after receiving a court order permitting his return to Guatemala, which an appeals court later determined exceeded the court’s jurisdiction. That ruling prompted attorneys representing Jimenez and his Indiantown guardian, Gaspar Montejo Gaspar, to sue Martin Memorial for money damages.

Many dismissed jurors said the three-week trial would create an economic hardship, but the majority also expressed a range of negative opinions against illegal immigration, including characterizing the lawsuit as unfair and some saying their beliefs would prevent them from being impartial.

A man dismissed Thursday said he felt everyone deserved medical care and the ability to make a living, but when it came to access to the courts, “U.S, citizens should come first.â€