Johnson v. Superior Court

Petitioner is charged with murder and wishes a trial by jury. He seeks to have his trial transferred from the North County Branch of the San Diego Superior Court (North County) to the downtown superior court on the basis the number of blacks in the venire of North County is not reasonably related to the number of blacks in that community. The trial court found there was an overwhelming discrepancy in the jury venire for North County when compared with the countywide venire but ruled the case should not be transferred, because the state had a significant interest in trying the case in North County.

North County is within the Fifth Supervisorial District (Fifth). The Fifth is not'exactly coterminous with the geographic area served by North County but prospective jurors are drawn from those persons on the county’s master jury list who reside in the Fifth. (Code Civ. Proc., § 206a.) Black persons comprise about 1.5 percent of the age eligible voters in the Fifth; they comprise about 4.5 percent of the age eligible voters in the County as a whole.

The test to be used in assessing whether the jury venire is representative of the community is set out in Duren v. Missouri…