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Collins Jury Cost: $12,000

Collins Jury Cost: $12,000 image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
July
Year
1970
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Collins Jury
Cost: $12,000

It cost more than $12,000 to seat the Circuit Court
jury for the John Norman Collins murder trial.

But that's just the beginning.

When testimony in the case begins a week from
today taxpayers in Washtenaw County will start
paying at a rate of $750 a day. And if the trial lasts
six weeks as some have estimated, that figures out
to something exceeding $30,000.

County Clerk Robert Harrison, whose court di-
vision is responsible for keeping a tab on expenses,
says the six weeks it took to seat a jury for the
Collins case cost area taxpayers $12,615. That sum
included the $15 per day paid each prospective juror
—and there were more than 200 of them—and the
millage expenses due the jurors.

The major expense however, will begin next
Monday when the seven men and seven women in
the jury box will begin their long period of being
sequestered—"locked up" in a hotel or motel each
night and weekend for the duration of the trial.

That sequestering will include three meals a
day and a motel or hotel room for the jurors. Also
included will be food and lodging for at least one
Sheriff's Department matron and one male sheriff's
deputy who will be responsible for the security of
the 14 jurors throughout the trial.

Sheriff Douglas J. Harvey and Sheriff's Capt.
William M. Mulholland were scheduled to meet to-
day with Circuit Court Judge John W. Conlin to de-
cide on de! assignment.
It may be ru .; ,..iii,-,n ,.,i,,. ...an two depu-
ties to the jury, the sheriff said.

Also a point of discussion in today's meeting is
expected to be the "visitation schedule" for the
jurors. Judge Conlin told the jury members before
they were seated that arrangements would be made
to escort them to their homes or places of business
for brief visits once during each week and for a few
hours on Saturday or Sunday. If each jury member
takes advantage of the visit opportunity there will
be 28 trips a week which sheriff's guards must su-
pervise.

County Clerk Harrison says contact has been
made with seven local motels and hotels in connec.-
tion with the lodging and feeding of the jurors and
their guards for the trial. He said preliminary plans
call for feeding the jurors breakfast and possibly
dinner at the motel where they will be staying with
lunch served to them in a downtown restaurant.

The only court proceeding involving the Collins
case scheduled for this week will occur at 9 a.m.'
on Wednesday in Judge Conlin's chambers. At that
time the judge is scheduled to hear motions on the
case from Chief Defense Joseph W. Louisell and his1
assistant, Neil H. Fink. If the proceedings are noil
completed on Wednesday they will be resumed on
Thursday.