Williams v. Superior Court

*739Opinion

PANELLI, J.

The issue in this case is whether jury selection procedures in Los Angeles County violate a criminal defendant’s right to an impartial jury, that is, a jury representative of a cross-section of the community. Specifically, we must decide whether, for purposes of cross-section analysis, “community” is defined as the county, the superior court (“judicial”) district, or an area extending 20 miles from the courthouse. As explained hereafter, we conclude that the appropriate definition of community for cross-section analysis is the judicial district.1

Edward Williams (defendant)…