On Nov. 17, 1942, Placer County Sheriff Charles Silva was ordered by Superior Court Judge A.L. Pierovich to include both sexes in the number ordered to report for jury duty in the trial of Glenard Brown for the murder of Ada Belle Turner.
This was a historic order according to the Nov. 17, 1942, Sacramento Bee: “Silva said if women are selected on the jury it will have been the first such instance in Placer County. Previously women have been barred from the jury lists because of the inadequacies of conveniences for the sex in the courthouse.”
Ultimately, three women were selected to serve on the jury in the trial of Glenard Brown. They, along with nine men, found him guilty of murder in the first degree. Brown was sentenced to death and was executed in the San Quentin gas chamber on Feb. 15, 1944.
It should be noted that while we can’t find any record of women serving on a jury in the Placer County Courthouse before the Glenard Brown trial, women had been employed to work in the courthouse since the early 1900s.
Photo: The Placer County Courthouse in Auburn, c. 1942
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