Counties abolish office of jury commissioner

“We’re out of a job, I guess,” Washington County Republican Jury Commissioner Richard Zimmerman said Wednesday when asked about his reaction to the state Supreme Court upholding a law that permits counties to do away with the office of jury commissioner.
Officials in both Washington and Greene counties voted both this year and last to abolish their jury commissioners’ jobs.
The state’s highest court issued a brief order that rejected an attempt by jury commissioners and their association to overturn the law signed by Gov. Tom Corbett in May.
Earlier this year, the justices struck down a previous version of the law. The new ruling concerns a law passed by the Legislature to address problems with the previous version, under which 42 counties did away with the job. A single justice, Debra Todd, dissented from the majority decision. The court plans to issue full opinions later, but because there were jury commissioner candidates who had filed for the office and were anticipating a spot on the Nov. 5 ballot, the court apparently made its ruling public within ample time of the election.
Zimmerman was an appellant in two court cases that went to the state Supreme Court. Had he been able to run as he planned this year, would have been seeking his fourth, four-year term.
“I’m in my 80s,” Zimmerman said.
“I don’t have to work, but I like to work. We’ll be done at the end of the year.”
His Democratic counterpart, Judith Fisher, has been jury commissioner for 20 years and has also run three times for prothonotary, the clerk of civil court.
“It just didn’t seem right to me,” said Fisher, who was able to watch some of the Supreme Court case on television. “Debra Todd dissented. She was the one who was asking all the questions that made sense.”
Jury commissioners develop procedures to pick jury lists, make sure jurors are selected fairly and manage jury pools.
“We are the watchdogs of the county. Who’s going to qualify the jurors?” Fisher asked.
Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi said he expects a seamless transition come January.
“We’ve talked to the president judge and a process has been set up with the court administrator,” Maggi said. “It’s status quo.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.