COURT 'INVENTS' NEW CRIME TO CHARGE JUROR

Woman failed to reveal view on drugs in trial

DENVER (AP) - An attorney for a juror convicted of contempt for failing to
volunteer information about herself has told the Colorado Court of Appeals
that the district court had to invent a new crime to charge his client.

Laura Kriho, a Gilpin County juror, was fined for contempt of court for
obstructing justice in a drug trial in 1996. She said she was found in
contempt because she voted for acquittal of a woman charged with possession
of methamphetamine.

"I can't imagine that the government would ever come after me if I had voted
for the prosecution," she said before oral arguments were made to the
three-judge panel on Monday.

Kriho, 34, was fined $1,200 for obstructing justice by failing to admit her
political beliefs and background during jury selection.

Paul Grant, her attorney, called it "a frightful occurrence" that a juror
could be convicted for not volunteering that she carried a political belief
that drug laws should not be prosecuted in court.

"The court invented a new crime - not willfully disclosing something," he
said. "This violates the Sixth Amendment, the right to a fair and impartial
jury. It doesn't give the right to remove all jurors who are suspicious of
government policy."

"The jury are the people. They are the final word in the courtroom."

But Roger Belotte of the attorney general's office said the contempt was
justified because Kriho never admitted she had been arrested 12 years
earlier for possession of LSD and because she never admitted her role in
working for the decriminalization of marijuana.

Before being sentenced, Kriho defended herself by saying that she thought
the record of her arrest had been expunged and that she was never asked
about her attitude toward drug laws.

Grant told the court that potential jurors have to believe they will not be
prosecuted themselves for believing that a certain law is wrong.

"Punishing jurors for their beliefs and speech will destroy the jury system
as will purging juries of all independent-minded jurors," Grant said.

The court is expected to rule on the case sometime this fall.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst