Juror claims boss gave her flak for time away

The judge in the case considered charging the assistant principal with interfering with a juror, which is a felony.

By TAMPA BAY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 27, 2000

LARGO -- Teacher Holly Ross was excited to perform her civic duty and sit on a jury in a first-degree murder case.

But Ross told the judge in her case that someone thought she should have raised a stink and tried to get excused -- even lie and say she believed the defendant was guilty.

The person who suggested that? Her boss, assistant principal Patty Cox at Bauder Elementary School in Seminole, Ross said.

Ross told a judge that Cox felt Ross should have said something to disqualify herself during jury selection in the case.

"Patty had said that she had made a call . . . and that the record showed that had I protested more loudly, then I probably would have been dismissed as a juror . . . And I felt it was implied that I should stand up and say, you know, I find him guilty."

Ross, now serving as a juror in the ongoing trial of Walter Morris, said she told Cox, "I'm not going to lie to try to get myself off the jury. I didn't feel that was my place."

Ross complained to Pinellas Senior Circuit Judge Robert Beach May 19, not long after she was selected to serve on the jury in a case over a toddler's death that was expected to last several weeks.

The St. Petersburg Times did not interview Ross or her family because she is still sitting on the jury panel. Her comments were taken from a transcript, obtained by the Times, of Ross' discussion with Beach.

Cox, 58, a 33-year veteran with Pinellas schools, denied on Friday in an interview that she was upset because her teacher had been called for jury service.

Instead, she said, "I just simply asked her if she understood there was a process for being excused from jury service. I'm not an angry kind of person."

Ross could have asked to be called for jury service at a later date. All potential jurors are allowed one automatic postponement of their service, if they request it.

Ross, 34, didn't make such a request.

Cox said the end of the school year is June 7. And with the Morris trial expected to perhaps last beyond that date, Cox said she didn't want the 24 second-graders Ross teaches to be parted from her.

"I knew the children needed Mrs. Ross," Cox said. "Children are very attached to their teachers. At the end of the year, they trust that their teachers will be there with hugs and kisses."

Nonetheless, Cox said she never told Ross she should have postponed her jury service or lied to get out of it.

Beach was angered at the notion anyone would intimidate a juror about their public duty.

After he learned of Ross' complaint, he told lawyers in the trial, "My first temptation is to order that lady in right now, if that's what's happening, and let her know that she could be charged with interfering with a juror, which . . . is a felony."

Beach did not call Cox into court. Instead, he called the school system, ordering that Ross not be bothered again.

Beach declined to comment because the case is still ongoing.

Bauder Principal Carol Thomas said she is confident Cox did not give Ross grief over her jury service. She said Ross simply was asked if she had looked into being excused.

"It's just terrible timing," said Thomas. "The little kids trust you're going to be there. When you're not, that's hard for them to handle."

Thomas' secretary witnessed the conversation between Cox and Ross and supports Cox's version of events.

Ross told Beach she had already asked to be transferred from the school before this came up.

"I don't trust them," she said. "I don't trust my principal. I don't trust my assistant principal. And I have very little respect for them."

Cox insists the best evidence of her commitment to public service is her own jury service. She's been called for jury duty four or five times in her life.

"I always get chosen," she said, "So you know I'm serious about it."

-- Times staff writer Jounice Nealy contributed to this report.

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