Thread: Latinos sue for more racial quotas

Housing chief asks court to block report
He says Yolo grand jury racially biased, would unfairly slam him.
By Pamela Martineau -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Saturday, June 10, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1

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The embattled Latino leader of the Yolo County Housing Authority on Friday filed a motion in federal court seeking to block the release of this year's Yolo County grand jury report, claiming it would unfairly slam him and his agency because some grand jurors are racially biased.
The unusual legal request, which was filed in Sacramento's Eastern District of the U.S. District Court, also alleges that Yolo County has shown a pattern over the years of excluding Latinos and Asians from grand jury service.


Attorneys for the plaintiffs are asking federal officials to step in and require Yolo County to adopt procedures in its selection process to enable more Latinos and Asians to sit on the grand jury.
"Yolo County's apparent lack of any formal rules or procedures governing selection of grand jurors … is extremely susceptible to abuse and seems to have led directly to the years-long exclusion of Asians and Hispanics from inclusion in Yolo County's grand juries," the motion for a temporary restraining order reads.

Jim Perry, court executive officer for Yolo Superior Court, which empanels and provides oversight to the grand jury, said the county reaches out to numerous cultural groups when soliciting volunteers to serve on the grand jury.

"We try to make sure there is a cultural mix," said Perry.

David Serena, executive director of the YCHA, and five other employees with the agency are plaintiffs in the case. They also filed a federal lawsuit Friday, based on the same allegations, seeking damages.

A hearing on the motion for a restraining order will be heard at 4 p.m. Monday by U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. The plaintiffs are seeking to block release later this month of the Yolo County grand jury's report.

The grand jury report is expected to again slam the YCHA, which was harshly criticized in a midyear report released in January. The YCHA has been the subject of scathing grand jury reports several times in the past decade.

In the January report, the grand jury alleged that the YCHA is in "complete chaos" financially and is rife with employee intimidation. The report also accused Serena of financial mismanagement and employee harassment and intimidation, among other allegations.

Serena denies the allegations.

In response to the grand jury's interim report, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors hired a retired judge to investigate the YCHA. County officials said Friday that they expect retired Placer Superior Court Judge Richard L. Gilbert to issue his report within a few weeks.

The grand jury's annual report is typically issued by July 1. Friday's motion for a temporary restraining order seeks to halt issuance until there is a hearing on the bias claims.

Serena told The Bee on Friday that he believes Yolo County grand jurors are abusing their power and targeting him and his agency because of the large number of Latinos on staff.

"It certainly appears that it is a vendetta," said Serena.

"The guy who was here before me was white. He was here 30 years. He was never investigated," Serena added. "I've been investigated every year for the last seven years. You tell me what that tells you."

The legal motion also claims that the jury forewoman, Charlotte Beal, has shown a personal and racial bias toward Serena in comments she has made.

"To allow the release of a grand jury report infected with such personal and racial bias would violate the most basic principles of Due Process of Law," the motion reads.

Beal declined to comment on the motion Friday, saying she had not read it. But she said reports are the work of the 19-member panel and do not reflect the opinions of one person.

She said the jurors are selected randomly by putting applicants' names into a wooden box.

"A court clerk puts her hand in a box and pulls out a piece of paper and that's how they're picked," said Beal.

Perry, executive officer of the court, said officials try to solicit people from varying racial background to serve on the grand jury. They run ads in eight newspapers and send letters of inquiry to 45 organizations, many of them cultural groups such as the Mexican American Concilio and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Whitney Leigh, a San Francisco attorney who is representing Serena and the plaintiffs, said the lack of specific rules for grand jury selection in Yolo County has left it open to abuse. He said Beal, the current forewoman, has served on the grand jury five of the past nine years.

"You have a coterie of people who appear to be picking their friends to be on the grand jury, which leaves it susceptible to abuse," said Leigh.

According to the court filing, residents of Latino descent comprise almost 26 percent of Yolo County's population, but have accounted for only 5 to 11 percent of the makeup of Yolo County's grand jury in the past seven years. During the same time period, residents of Asian descent in Yolo County made up almost 10 percent of the population, while only three have served on the grand jury.


About the writer:
The Bee's Pamela Martineau can be reached at (530) 757-7119 or pmartineau@sacbee.com.

Don't you have to be a legal citizen to be on a jury? Maybe that's why there aren't many. Plus, don't you have to understand English?

Originally Posted by crazybird

Don't you have to be a legal citizen to be on a jury? Maybe that's why there aren't many. Plus, don't you have to understand English?

these are minor technicalities that only apply to citizens

Or it could be this housing chief is like the housing chief in Santa Barbara County, an arrogant corrupt incompetent. Who also happens to be a black American.

The SB guy does not even have a complete list of houses they administer under the subsidized housing program!

these are minor technicalities that only apply to citizens

Forgive me......I lost my mind there for a moment.

Just slap me silly when I do that again. Hard to undo 51 years of brainwashing.

Originally Posted by crazybird

these are minor technicalities that only apply to citizens

Forgive me......I lost my mind there for a moment.

Just slap me silly when I do that again. Hard to undo 51 years of brainwashing.

same here ... but we are proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks

This is a major strategy of Communist La Raza - to create racism where none exists, or to re-ignite racism that's been long gone. To make matters worse, the senate is cashing in on all this new racism and injecting same into their arguments for amnesty.

What Communist La Raza is doing is "SATURATION RACISM," to play the race card non-stop, continuously on everything, no matter how insignificant.

Then senators "join with Communist La Raza," and label their constituents - RACISTS.

The funny thing is - you do not have to understand English to be in jury . For Hispanics this is boring because they do not understand - I had a patient last year - she asked me to write an excuse letter for her , stating that she does not speak English . I could not do it , because this is not a medical problem , so instead I gave her a letter that she could not walk /she was 450+ lbs / .The lack of English is NOT an excuse

Originally Posted by hope2006

The funny thing is - you do not have to understand English to be in jury

for a foreigner to become a "naturalized citizen" the law requires they speak, read and understand the English language and under the Constitution, a defendent has the right to a jury trial by their "peers" -- citizens.

So if these people aren't citizens, they have no right to be sitting on a jury under the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and their "citizenship" can be revoked for fraud.