Posted on 04/18/2024 8:56:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The jury selection process for former President Donald Trump's "hush money" trial in New York City has not been going quickly nor smoothly — and things took another turn Thursday morning. After struggling to find jurors in the pool who said they could consider the case fairly and impartially, at least one individual who had been impaneled to the jury has now been excused by the judge.
A female juror, "Juror #2," who works as an oncology nurse and had biographical details — including her occupation and other information from her responses to the juror questionnaire and its 42 multi-part questions — made public told the judge that she had "friends, colleagues, and family push things to my phone questioning my identity as a juror."
"After sleeping on it overnight," Juror #2 told the court she "has concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial."
As a result, Judge Juan Merchan excused Juror #2, meaning there are just now just six impaneled jurors and 12 more must still be settled.
Contrary to claims that Trump and his allies are trying to intimidate jurors, mainstream media outlets hostile to Trump reported details about jurors' identities — apparently enough details to allow at least one juror to have her presence on the panel suspected.
Juror #2 in Trump’s hush money trial has been excused after she told Judge Merchan aspects of her “identity have already been out there in the public, yesterday alone I had friends colleagues and family push things to my phone questioning my identity as a juror”
Down to 6 jurors— Kristen Holmes (@KristenhCNN) April 18, 2024
Adding to the confusion surrounding jury selection, Juror #2 might not be the only one who was added to the jury only to be subsequently excused.
Juror #4, a man who runs an IT business and said while answering the questionnaire that he finds Trump "fascinating," was asked to see Judge Merchan at 9:15 a.m. ET on Thursday after prosecutors said they have reason to believe he may not have answered the selection questions accurately. The D.A.'s office reportedly found records matching the juror's name that called the veracity of his statements into question, but Juror #4 did not show up to see the judge as requested.
Prosecutors said they felt they were "ethically and legally obligated to bring this information to the court." Judge Merchan said he instructed juror number 4 to be here at 9:15 but he still has yet to show up. https://t.co/xI55Ww7pWm— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) April 18, 2024
Of the original 200 individuals called on Monday to begin the jury selection process, a fresh 96 are being run through the gamut in court on Thursday in attempts to seat a full 18-member panel of jurors and alternates.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
I don’t think you can request a change of venue based on the grounds that there aren’t enough people who voted for you where you’re being tried.
I elaborated here:
My prediction is this:All these jurors who claim to be unbiased or unaware of the news who were seated on the jury will eventually out themselves through typical leftwing hubris and arrogance.
One by one, we will see juror malfeasance resulting in dismissed jurors replaced by alternates. A juror will says something, let something slip, secretly talk with other jurors... something.
The judge already denied the motion to change venue. To ramp up the pressure on the judge and Bragg, Trump's team should make a motion to sequester the jury during the trial to ensure they are not influenced by outside media. I would expect the judge to deny this motion, too.
Ideally, they will run out of alternate jurors and the judge will be forced to declare a mistrial, but that is a long-shot.
-PJ
When the jury is finally seated, the Trump team should make a motion to sequester the jury during the trial. They should argue that a majority of the jurors said the get their news from The New York Times, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, and MSNBC. Letting the jurors see the daily news coverage of the trial will prejudice the jury.One, it keeps the jurors away from the New York media, so they won't be influenced by the mob mentality outside of the courtroom.
And two, it will make the jurors antsy and frustrated, and cause the arrogant lefties on the jury to make mistakes that violate the rules of the jury as they go into TikTok withdrawal.
Anyone foolish enough to believe the MSM is not competent. When I was much younger I devoured the news. Morning and evening newspapers. Watched the national news on at least one of the three networks plus early and late local news stations. Haven’t watched for a couple of decades now, too much propaganda. Why waste the time.
$15/Day for jurors, $20/HR for hamburger flippers. Seems right.
California, land of fruits and nuts. Apologies to my California FReeper FRiends.
Ok I can help here. I volunteer for jury. They do not have to pay me. And best of all I can send in an absentee verdict.
I was on a jury once when the hold out vote was an elder lady. When asked to cite wherein the evidence she believed pointed to guilty her answer was he looks guilty.
RE: there aren’t enough people who voted for you where you’re being tried.
That’s an understatement. If 90% voted against you, the outcome is pre-determined. “Aren’t enough” would mean just a little over a majority. NYC isn’t that.
Regarding ‘personal questions’ ... hopefully PDJT’s lawyers are getting enough social media info on each panel member to scour the internet for the political sense of each. If the lawyers find that a panel member is a leftist fanatic they may be able to get them tossed. I am hoping that the inability to seat an impartial jury after going thru hundreds and hundreds of candidates may trigger a change of venue.
I had jury duty one day, and was excused at about 11:00 AM. My employer did pay for jury duty, but I was closer to work than home, so I went in and worked half a day. When my timesheet showed me claiming four hours of jury duty I got a call from timekeeping. I explained to their satisfaction. (The receipt from the court only showed that I appeared on that day, it did not say when I was excused.)
About a week later there was a corporate wide blast email reminding employees to return to work if excused from jury duty.
That might be the case already. Suppose I was a NY welfare recipient receiving 3K a month, received a jury summons, and then thought about writing a book "I Was on the Jury that Sent Trump to Prison."
Trump needs Jason Bull.
RE: in what venue will you find 18 Trump peers?
Come to Long Island just next to NYC. It’s a more moderate place. The Democrat vs Republican registration is at least more split evenly and there is also a sizable Conservative Party registration.
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Are you sure? I can't find that quote on the web.
Since chances of all 12 from a 90% anti-Trump pool voting to acquit is .000000000001, that implies that the only possible verdict is guilty. Correct me if I am mistaken, but that is not what I was led to believe in Civics class. I thought a hung jury was possible in a trial.
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