NJ's first socially distanced trial stalled over alleged jury selection bias

A state appeals court on Wednesday granted a last-minute delay of North Jersey’s first socially distanced jury trial to weigh allegations of potential bias against older and underprivileged people during the jury picking. 

Leading up to the trial’s opening on Thursday, defense attorneys for Wildemar Dangcil had raised what they called “constitutional deficiencies” with the state judiciary’s new hybrid system for trying cases, in which jurors are interviewed virtually from their homes before they are summoned to judge the case in person.  

Earlier in the week, a Bergen County judge rejected arguments that the elderly and economically disadvantaged – who might not have access to WiFi – were disproportionately rejected from the jury pool of nearly 200 people eligible to hear the case. 

But on Wednesday, the day before opening arguments, the appeals court ruled to postpone the trial indefinitely until it heard additional arguments from attorneys. 

Dangcil, 38, is charged with trying to set fire to his ex-wife’s home in Hackensack in June 2019. As Bergen’s pilot trial under the new guidelines – which require masks and social distancing in the courtroom – the case could serve as a benchmark for how criminal trials are conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Concerns from Dangcil’s attorney are rooted in the new state guidelines that allow those over 65 and with underlying medical conditions, such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes, to defer their jury service. Other people who don’t have computers or internet access — minorities, those who don’t speak English, seniors who lack technical acumen — might also have been excluded from the virtual portion of interviews, they said.

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Of the 500 people who responded to their jury duty notice, about 150 were either excused or deferred to future cases by the court, prior to their interviews for the case, according to the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts. 

The practice was standard even before COVID-19, prosecutors in the case argued. But Dangcil’s attorneys believe they should have access demographic data of the rejected jurors, even though that information is not recorded by the court. 

“Our argument is that this is an unprecedented time. That data wasn’t collected before, but it should be now,” said Peter Michael, an attorney for Dangcil. “If someone just said ‘hey I’m worried about COVID,’ all right you’re excused. We needed to speak with that juror so see why he was concerned.” 

The result could create juries skewed toward “economically privileged, youthful jurors,” Dangcil’s attorney wrote in their briefs. 

“A jury of your peers has to be random and it has to be diverse. In this case I don’t think we have that,” Michael said. 

Jurors in Dangcil’s case were told the trial would likely last until Oct. 7. But with the appeal now underway, it’s possible that a new jury will have to be empaneled, Michael said. 

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said it will file a response to the appellate decision and otherwise declined to comment. 

Wednesday’s ruling underscores the pitfalls the state judiciary has faced in kick-starting live jury trials after the pandemic largely shuttered courthouses over the summer. 

Initially, the first case to go to trial in New Jersey utilizing hybrid jury selection and social-distancing was that of Talek Lawson, charged with murder in Bergen County in a 2018 bar shooting. Lawson’s trial, however, was indefinitely put on hold earlier in the month, after his attorney and prosecutors argued it was too serious a case, with a potential for life in prison upon a conviction, to serve as the pilot under the state’s new trial guidelines.

Elsewhere in the state, opening arguments started Wednesday for a case in Atlantic County. Courts in Cumberland, Mercer and Passaic counties will begin selecting juries in October.

Tom Nobile covers Superior Court in Bergen County for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from criminal trials to local lawsuits and insightful analysis, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: nobile@northjersey.com Twitter: @tomnobile