Third Day of Jury Selection

The third day of jury selection was completed today. Hardship inquiry was conducted on another 150 jurors (75 in the morning and 75 in the afternoon). We heard the usual hardship excuses from the prospective jurors. The primary excuses accepted by the court are 1) financial hardship (the tough economic times come through loud and clear with these jurors), 2) language problems, 3) pre-paid vacations, 4) child care and 5) full time students in school.

104 individuals were excused due to hardship and 46 filled out a questionnaire and moved on to the next stage of jury selection.

The totals now after three days of hardship jury selection are 450 total jurors interviewed and 152 prospective jurors have been passed for hardship and moved to the next stage. That is a 34% passage rate and that is higher than we thought we would get for this long trial.

Jury selection resumes Tuesday morning with another day of hardship inquiry on another 150 prospective jurors. The court plans on getting approximately 220 jurors through this stage.

Everything proceeds as expected.