Amid controversy over the racial makeup of the jury pool, Hamilton County officials have maintained that they never receive or collect any information about the race of prospective jurors.
“Nowhere at any point of our processes do we have access to or know of race or gender,” Jury Coordinator Margo McConnell said by phone. “We have names and addresses. That’s it.”
McConnell and Circuit Court Clerk Larry Henry have said repeatedly this year they do not know or have any way to assess the racial makeup of the master jury list. They made those statements in response to the county being accused of having unconstitutional jury selection practices that are responsible for mostly white jury pools.
But according to a record obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the state does provide race data to each county every month.
The county’s master jury list is made up of people who have driver’s licenses or state identification licenses, which are records maintained by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.