Source: Daily Times-Call (CO) Contact: http://www.longmontfyi.com Pubdate: August 11, 1998 Author: Associated Press 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