Jury selected in the trial against Murray
Potential jurors on the involuntary manslaughter trial of Murray were questioned Friday morning on what they knew about Michael Jackson's life, personality and about Murray.
One African-American woman was stricken “for cause” after she began crying during questioning. The prosecution used two of its 10 “strikes” to dismiss two other African-Americans, including a man who manages social workers.
By about 3:45 p.m., defense lawyers and prosecutors had also selected the six people who will serve as alternate jurors over the course of a trial expected to last five weeks.
All the jurors — the 12 primary ones and the alternates — were sworn in.
But soon thereafter, a person who had been a prospective juror raised questions about a woman who had been picked as one of the alternates. After private discussions, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor dismissed the woman, leaving five alternate jurors.
“It seems like a good jury panel,” defense lawyer Michael Flanagan said.
Murray's lawyers have hired an unnamed jury consultant to help determine which jurors would be most detrimental to their case. The prosecution has employed such consultants in the past but decided against it for this trial due to financial concerns. Each side will be allowed to question the potential jurors as a group on Friday, but they will have limited time due to the extensive nature of the questionnaire that each potential juror has already filled out.
The face-to-face interaction helped them decide how to use the 10 peremptory challenges allotted to each side, in which they can dismiss prospective jurors without stating a reason.
Walgren used much of his time to gauge the potential jurors’ willingness to find someone guilty if they were significantly responsible for a death even though the alleged victim shared some responsibility.
A man who appeared to hesitate when asked if that was fair was the first prospective juror stricken from the jury pool by the prosecution.
One woman said she’d “prefer not to be in a position where I would have to judge,” but she assured the judge she could be a fair juror.
“If I have a job to do, then I finish it,” she said. The prosecution struck her from the jury.
A prospective male juror said he always turned the channel when there was news coverage of Jackson’s death on television, so it would be easy for him to be fair since “everything I hear would be for the first time.” The prosecution also used a peremptory strike to have him dismissed from the pool.
Ten people were quickly dismissed Friday after they told the judge that serving in a five-week trial would be a financial or family hardship.
A prospective male juror said he always turned the channel when there was news coverage of Jackson’s death on television, so it would be easy for him to be fair since “everything I hear would be for the first time.” The prosecution also used a peremptory strike to have him dismissed from the pool.
Ten people were quickly dismissed Friday after they told the judge that serving in a five-week trial would be a financial or family hardship.
Ed Chernoff said there were no surprising reasons for striking jurors “for cause,” and the pool was filled with people who could be open-minded. “Time ameliorates things,” Chernoff said.
The “for cause” strikes were based mostly on written answers potential jurors gave earlier this month to 113 questions.The seven man, five woman jury was selected after less than six hours of questioning by a judge, defense attorneys and prosecutors.
The speed with which the panel was seated is likely a result of exhaustive 30-page questionnaire the group filled out earlier this month when jury selection began.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren joked with prospective jurors that the process seemed like "the courtroom version of speed dating, trying to get the most information in a short time."
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, determined to move the process quickly, gave each side only 20 minutes to question the first 27 prospects.The court worked later in the day to find six alternates to step in if any of the jurors had to be excused during the trial.
Once all the challenges are exhausted, then attorneys will work toward finding six alternate jurors to hear the case.
Bailiffs marched 84 potential jurors into the courtroom Friday morning, but 10 were quickly dismissed because they said they could no longer serve on the case.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor asked attorney Connie Rice, whom he referred to as an “advocate” working in the legal system, if she felt she would have to act as an advocate for one side or the other.
Rice, a longtime advocate for police reform who has filed class-action lawsuits over law enforcement misconduct and racial discrimination, responded no.
Prosecutors used one of 10 peremptory challenges to excuse Rice, a longtime critic of the Los Angeles Police Department, the agency that investigated and arrested Dr. Conrad Murray.
Attorneys are not required to explain why they dismiss certain potential jurors.
Deputy Dist. Atty. David Walgren had questioned Rice about whether she could abide by jurors’ “limited role” and accept that there may be unanswered questions in a case. Rice said she could.
“Extraneous information or other considerations or possibilities, they don’t play any role after you have the evidence,” she said.Ed Chernoff, Murray’s lead attorney, was allowed about 25 minutes to ask questions of the first set of jurors. He asked the jurors if anyone could honestly say they didn’t know anything about Jackson’s life or Murray’s.
None of the jurors raised their hands.
As might be expected, the personality and life of Michael Jackson dominated much of the jury questioning.
Chernoff said there will be a lot of "science" as evidence, but he suggested that other evidence is "frankly going to be about Michael Jackson's life." He said, "Part of this trial is going to be about Michael Jackson," "We're not trying to drag up stuff that people may not want to hear about."
But he immediately asked panelists how they remembered Jackson.
Chernoff asked one woman how she would describe Jackson’s personality.The woman responded: “I think of him as a child in the Jackson Five, his dancing, his music.”
Chernoff followed up by asking if Jackson seemed particularly child-like, and incapable of making his own decisions. She said no.
“Does anybody think that Michael Jackson should be held to a different standard of responsibility?” Chernoff asked the group.
No one raised their hands.
Walgren focused his questions on whether panelists could convict Murray if they found Jackson had contributed to his own death.
The prosecutor asked would-be jurors to consider a hypothetical situation where a reckless driver runs a red light and kills a pedestrian who was “also not being safe as he could be and steps out in front of a car.”
“You could say the driver is not 100% responsible, but he did play a substantial role,” Walgren said, echoing the wording of the involuntary manslaughter charge.
“Could you find him guilty?” he asked juror after juror.
All said they could, but one man asked if the pedestrian had used a crosswalk. Prosecutors later dismissed that juror.
Chernoff objected at two points to Walgren’s use of the term “victim” in his questioning.
“There is no proof of a ‘victim,’” Chernoff complained.
The judge ordered the prosecutor to use the phrase “alleged victim.”Also among the jurors questioned was a secretary to an appellate justice who weeks earlier handled an appeal by Murray’s attorneys asking for jurors to be sequestered, that was denied.
In her questionnaire, she wrote, mistakenly, that she saw Murray “convicted” on television, Chernoff noted. The secretary said she meant she saw him charged, not convicted.
The questioning by the lawyers is aimed at revealing potential jurors who should be dismissed "for cause" -- bias toward one side. After a first batch of 27 people has been qualified as unbiased, each side can begin using its 10 peremptory challenges -- dismissals with no need to state a cause.
By noon, 16 prospective jurors had been struck from the pool.
Outside the courtroom, one of a throng of sheriff’s deputies standing watch in the hallway cautioned Jackson fans about their attire.
The deputy told two women wearing red T-shirts with the words “JUSTICE 1958-2009” that they would have to cover it up.
“You can’t have shirts that say ‘Peace,’ ‘Justice’ or anything like that,” the deputy told the women.
Twelve jurors and six alternates are being selected for the televised trial, estimated by Pastor to take about a month.
Opening statements are scheduled on Tuesday, September 27.
MJFS - sources: huffingtonpost / latimes / usatoday / AP / cnn