BOARD WANTS END TO SUMMONING DEAD.

Byline: Michelle Rester Staff Writer

There are some people who should not be summoned for jury duty - such as those who are dead.

So ordered the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The five-member group, led by Supervisor Gloria Molina, said it was concerned that many families of dead relatives have been receiving repeated jury summonses.

And in the end, it has been the family members who were forced to provide the county with copies of the death certificates, even though it is a county department that keeps records of those who have died.

County officials say they are unsure how many families this has happened to. On average, however, about 10 percent of 4.6 million jury summonses are never answered, for reasons not documented.

``To the supervisor, it happened one time too many,'' said Miguel Santana, a spokesman for Molina.

Santana said his office has helped at least one family that went through an emotional ordeal to put an end to the mailed warnings and in showing that the relative had indeed passed away.

``When they tried to clarify it, they were told they had to prove the person was deceased,'' Santana said. ``We found it entirely inappropriate.''

Along with the repeated notices to appear, the county's Office of the Jury Commissioner began sending out warnings last month that people who fail to show up for jury duty face a possible $1,500 fine.

A report is due back in 30 days to the Board of Supervisors on its options for fixing the problem.

It will be up to the chief administrative officer, registrar-recorder/county clerk, presiding judge of the Superior Court and the Office of the Jury Commissioner to investigate solutions.

Suggestions so far include adding a ``deceased'' box to the jury summons questionnaire and having an automatic system that would transfer death certificate information from the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Office to the Office of the Jury Commissioner.

``We want to make sure that doesn't happen to other families,'' Santana said.

On Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's motion, the board also asked that the same report include ways to let people know how they can obtain permanent medical excuses from jury service.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Superior Courts said the jury summonses have traditionally been sent out based on Department of Motor Vehicles and voter registration records.