December 14, 2020

Alfaro v. Superior Court (Dec. 9, 2020, A159577) __ Cal.App.5th __ [2020 WL 7237944]

In a criminal decision with implications for civil cases, the Court of Appeal has examined the public availability of master juror lists.

A defendant charged with murder sought discovery of the County’s master lists of prospective and qualified jurors, in connection with his claims that juries in the County were not selected from a fair cross-section of the community. Defendant argued that a master list of qualified jurors is a judicial record subject to public inspection and copying. The trial court denied defendant’s request.

The Court of Appeal issued a writ directing the trial court to grant the discovery motion. The Court of Appeal agreed that names and zip codes on master juror lists are disclosable as public records.

The Court of Appeal’s decision should be applicable to civil as well as criminal jury trials.