SANTA CRUZ — It is Juror Appreciation Week in Santa Cruz County and officials spent the week emphasizing mental health support for jurors in Santa Cruz. A new bill making its way through the California Assembly is trying to change the way jurors can access mental health services.
Assembly Bill 2357, authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, aims to create a pilot program in Santa Cruz that provides free mental health services to jurors post-verdict for cases that expose jurors to particularly graphic topics such as murder or sex crimes.
Pellerin said she was inspired to create the bill after meeting with jurors on the 2024 extension trial for Adrian Gonzalez, the man who raped and murdered his neighbor, 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton, in their Santa Cruz apartment complex in 2015.
Jurors on the three-month-long trial told Pellerin it was difficult for them to bear witness to the graphic details and traumatic testimony involved in the case, she said.
The program’s details are not entirely set in stone, as the bill is early in its life, but Pellerin said she envisioned that after a verdict is reached and the jurors’ service is over, they would be given direct access to free mental health services through a partnership with the state and the county, including a referral pathway or a defined number of free counseling sessions.
“People who serve on these types of juries, when they’re having to witness so much horrific evidence, I can’t imagine how they just switch off the courtroom once they leave the courthouse and go on with their lives,” Pellerin said. “I’m sure that leaves a lasting impression, and I think that we owe them a little more than a handshake and a reference to get help if you need it.”
Ideally, Pellerin said, jurors would be provided with a list of potential therapists and counselors that partner with the county behavioral health department and each individual could contact them to set up an appointment on an optional, case-by-case basis.
The bill would create a pilot program in three counties, Santa Cruz being one of them, and two others to be selected by a judicial council. Pellerin said the program is not intended to create a brand new state program, but to use the infrastructure that is already in place in a more impactful way. The pilot program’s services would not apply to jurors from every single case, Pellerin said, but for cases which are particularly long and complex with a large amount of stressful or violent testimony.
“We need to do more for our jurors who are providing this essential public service when they’re involved in particularly heinous kinds of trials like this one was,” Pellerin said. “Jury service should not require a person to sacrifice their own mental health.”
Santa Cruz has a high rate of jurors — 70% — who show up for their summons in comparison to statewide numbers, said Sasha Morgan, court executive officer for Santa Cruz County. This helps trials move quicker and allows everyone to get summoned less often, she said.
After a trial that may bring up difficult issues concludes, Morgan said the court distributes a brochure from the Judicial Council of California for jurors, thanking them for their service and providing coping skills as well as links to statewide mental health resources.
“We absolutely recognize that some of the trials that they’re in might bring up very difficult things or they could be seeing very difficult things,” Morgan said. “We definitely talk to our jurors about recognizing that what they just went through as a juror — both the time commitment and the subject matter — might be difficult.”
Additionally, Pellerin said, anyone can call California’s 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, but she said sometimes people who serve on a jury that exposes them to “emotionally wrenching events” may need deeper assistance, especially as they cannot talk to their friends and family about how they feel during the trial.
Morgan said that in her position as a court employee, she is accustomed to hearing about difficult topics such as murder trials or abuse cases, but for the everyday civilian, these topics are not something they may be exposed to on a daily basis and in such detail as is necessary in a courtroom.
“It can be disruptive, it can be graphic, it can be disturbing,” Morgan said. “So we want to recognize that and understand that and how that is going to affect somebody. How somebody then wants to handle that is going to be very unique to that person.”
Currently, the bill is moving through the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where its fiscal impact will be reviewed. Morgan said one of her main concerns is where the funding would come from, as the local court does not have the funding to pay for this extra service. That is the missing piece, Pellerin said, that the bill currently lacks funding. She said the bill is depending on appropriations, but she said she wanted to get the policy in place and then work on securing funding.
While courts already provide information about available mental health services for jurors, they do not provide services free of charge and jurors must navigate the system on their own, Pellerin said.
“If you’ve ever been in a mental health crisis or you’re feeling particularly overwhelmed, you just want to be able to be handed a phone number that you can call and get referrals to set up an appointment and have it be a simple and easy avenue for your to discuss what you had to process during the course of serving in that jury,” Pellerin said.