Trump Jurors Drop Like Flies Due to Bias

(BrightPress.org) – Jury selection for Donald Trump’s criminal trial generally known as the “hush-money” trial began on Monday, April 15th. More than half of the prospective jurors were dismissed after claiming they could not be or were unsure of their ability to remain impartial.

Prospective jurors were given a questionnaire with 42 questions about their social media posts, preferences on news sources, political affiliation, and work history.

Jury selection continued on Tuesday. Following several more dismissals, the first seven jurors were seated. The selected seven jurors consist of two lawyers, a software engineer, an oncology nurse, an IT worker, and an English teacher.

Dozens of potential jurors have been dismissed over the first two days of jury selection. One person was dismissed because of a social media post about Trump from 2017 that read “Lock him up!” Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said they weren’t searching for people who have been “living under a rock” for the past several years but for people able to keep an open mind. Steinglass continued to instruct the jury pool, reminding everyone that the case was not political and personal politics had no place on the jury. He emphasized that the case is about whether or not Donald Trump broke the law.

Some experts say that normally when jurors respond with “no” when asked about their ability to remain impartial they are questioned further, and not always immediately dismissed. The director of Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Justice John Paul Stevens Jury Center, Nancy S. Marder said the question about impartiality can provide jurors with an easy way to opt out. Gregory Cusimano, a jury bias expert, agreed with Marder. Chris Timmons, a defense lawyer from Atlanta, said the swift dismissal of jurors claiming the inability to be impartial should “speed the selection process.”

Judge Juan Merchan admonished Trump for “uttering loudly” and “gesturing” toward one of the potential jurors being questioned. Merchan said he would “not tolerate any jurors being intimidated in this courtroom” even though Trump’s words and intentions were not clear.