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Representative Carter, a practicing criminal defense attorney in Lincoln County and Elbert, argued the bill undermines access to justice for defendants in rural jurisdictions, stating he prefers 'an older jury panel to no jury panel.' DA Ann Kelly testified that her San Luis Valley jurisdiction (population under 50,000) would be 'absolutely devastated' if people over 72 could opt out. Representative Barron countered that constituents — not the DA Council — are whom he represents, and Representative Marshall argued the DA opposition is motivated by conviction rate concerns, stating older jurors 'tend to convict at much, much higher rates.'
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“Me as a criminal defense attorney still prefer an older jury panel to no jury panel means that there is more access to justice for those defendants, especially in those rural jurisdictions. I understand the need or the want to not participate in jury duty, but I also understand that overall this is about access to justice. This is about people in those communities, in these rural communities having access to justice.”
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Sign in to subscribeThe House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee will come to order. Ms. King, please call the roll. Representatives Bottoms. Here. Bradley. Here. Carter. Present. Duran. Here. Espinosa. Present. Foray. Excused. Luck. Joyfully. Present. Win gracefully. Present. Bricks. Excused. Clifford. Here. Madam Chair. Here. Wonderful. We. We have a quorum. We have two bills on the agenda today, House Bill 1022 and House Bill 1068. Before we proceed with hearing bills, I just wanted to make a few remarks with reminders to committee members. First, State Affairs Committee will meet every week on Mondays at 1:30pm welcome, Representative Foray. We'll get. We'll get there. And on Thursday, 15 minutes upon adjournment. And we will always be right here in LSBA, just like in our previous session. For hearings with 19 or fewer individuals signed up to provide testimony, we'll provide three minutes per person and up to eight minutes for committee questioning of the panel. And for hearings with 20 participants or more, we will limit testimony to 2 minutes per person and 10 minutes for committee questioning of the panel. I feel like as a committee, we did a really good job last session keeping things light and…
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