Wednesday, December 12, 2018

MORE FROM THE JURY POOL

by Bob Walsh

I have just completed two days of jury duty. Have not made it into the box yet. We spent all day on jury selection, and will spend at least part of tomorrow on that task as well. There are two defendants with separate lawyers being tried together. The judge asks questions, then each lawyer. There is a lot of semi-philosophical talk about the difference between reasonable doubt and zero doubt and presumption of evidence.

A lot of the jury members have criminal convictions, mostly for DUI. I admit that surprises me. A lot were excused for cause. Many were excused due to hardship. One lawyer is in the box, at least for now. That is unusual I understand.

Right now it looks like we have 11 fairly solid people, but there are still plenty of preemptory challenges floating around out there. Plus they will want at least a couple of alternates I expect after all the trouble they have gone thru to seat a jury.

So I get to go back Wednesday, but not until 10:00. It will be harder to find a parking spot on the street, I may have to park in the garage. (The county pays.) Nobody that I noticed was really irate about being there, so several were obviously unhappy.

I will keep you posted on how things go.

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