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February 14, 2005
Attorneys work to eliminate biased jurors
Jury selection in the Michael Jackson child-molestation case resumes today, as attorneys work to eliminate panelists until they find the 12 jurors and eight alternates who will sit in judgment of the entertainer.
The existing jury pool consists of about 240 northern Santa Barbara County residents, but Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville has ordered just 113 potential jurors to report for duty today. The remainder must phone the court to learn if their services are needed in the future.
Though the judge is looking for a panel that will make a verdict based on evidence presented at trial, expected to last five months, defense lawyers and prosecutors want jurors who are favorable to their cause.
Both sides have retained jury consultants to help them during the selection process. Though consultants don't speak to jurors in court, they take prodigious notes and advise attorneys about which follow-up questions to ask.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are each permitted to dismiss 10 jurors without giving a reason. If they wish to dismiss others, they must demonstrate a possible bias or prejudice to the judge.
Mere body language is not sufficient for a lawyer to dismiss someone for cause, so a strategy for both sides is to formulate questions that will identify biased jurors who have not yet demonstrated cause for being dismissed.
Indeed, lawyers sometimes feel that jury selection is better described as jury de-selection.
"It's more of a question of avoiding the jury you don't want," said veteran Santa Barbara County attorney Steve Balash.
"Both sides are trying to identify jurors who create the highest risk," agrees jury consultant Richard Gabriel. "The jury selection process is about identifying characteristics of people who have an outright bias, or those inclined against (one side). It's done by asking questions a particular way to get jurors to disclose particular life experiences or opinions."
In general, the defense and prosecution will differ in who they want dismissed, Gabriel said.
The defense may wish to dismiss people who were raised in authoritarian families or who loathe erotic materials, he said.
By contrast, the prosecution wants to rid the pool of those open-minded about sexuality, accepting of alternative lifestyles or in need of hard evidence to convict, Gabriel said.
Jurors completed questionnaires two weeks ago asking them about their life experiences and familiarity with Jackson. Their answers may help attorneys screen for bias.
Defense lawyers would want to dismiss those who are, or who know, a victim of sexual abuse, Gabriel said.
Prosecutors might want to eliminate those who have been accused of a crime, or who know members of Jackson's family, he said.
Other issues are less clear-cut.
Though defense attorneys might red-flag the 15 percent of jurors who said they have worked as child advocates, prosecutors should realize that these workers may have witnessed false accusations, Gabriel said.
Because the controversial issue of child abuse is at the heart of this case, some jurors may eliminate themselves by declaring their prejudices against those accused of the crime, he said.
Others may want to speak about painful personal experiences with the judge behind closed doors.
Neither side wants a juror to express opinions about the defendant in open court, Gabriel said, because that could lead to the dismissal of an entire jury panel on grounds that they have been tainted.
Jackson is on trial for four counts of engaging in lewd acts with a 13-year-old boy and four counts of administering alcohol to help him with the alleged molestations. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well as to a count of attempted child molestation and a conspiracy charge involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
Jury selection was postponed last week because the sister of lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. died.
Posted by Nealus at February 14, 2005 06:17 PM
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