Wednesday evening - 55 Jurors in the pool

Another day of jury selection completed. Not the best of days in terms of three of the four jurors who were passed for cause. These three jurors lean strongly against the death penalty but remained on the jury because they stated they could still be fair and impartial and consider the death penalty in an appropriate case.

13 jurors were questioned today (instead of the usual 16 because three jurors were not present: one juror failed to appear, one juror flew to Taiwan to be with her ill father, and one juror was too sick to attend court) and four of the prospective jurors were passed for cause and return on October 8, 2009 for the final jury selection process. After 12 days of general questioning, 55 jurors have been cleared for cause (out of 187 jurors). There are three days and 49 jurors left in the scheduled jury questioning process. The trial resumes this morning with voir dire of a new group of 16 jurors.Just three days of jury questioning left.

Judge Parsons did not address the issue of what the court plans to do if we do not acquire enough jurors by the completion of jury questioning next Tuesday.

There is concern about the lower than expected number of jurors being selected

The trial resumed today with questioning of another 16 prospective jurors. The sixteenth day of jury selection overall and eleventh day of general voir dire was completed. 16 jurors were questioned Tuesday and five of the prospective jurors were passed for cause and return on October 8, 2009 for the final jury selection process. After 11 days of general questioning, 51 jurors have been cleared for cause (out of 174 jurors questioned). There are four days and 64 jurors left in the scheduled jury questioning process. The trial resumes Wednesday morning with voir dire of a new group of 16 jurors.

Judge Parsons at the end of the afternoon expressed his concern about the number of jurors we have cleared for cause. He estimated that at this rate, next Tuesday when we complete questioning of the remaining jurors, we will have less than 70 jurors cleared for cause. Our goal was to have over 80-85 jurors cleared for cause. Judge Parsons asked the attorneys to consider how the court should proceed in light of the low number and be prepared to discuss it later this week.

Only One Juror Added to the Pool Today

(picture from the San Jose Mercury News - Riderless Horse, with backward boots, outside the HP Pavilion Services for Rich)

The fifteenth day of jury selection overall and tenth day of general voir dire was completed. 16 jurors were scheduled for questioning today. One juror was passed for cause and 15 jurors were excused. All eight of the jurors in the afternoon were excused by stipulation of the parties based on their views on the death penalty. Excuses today were predominantly based on opposition to the death penalty, one excused for financial hardship (not previously raised), and several for their view that the only punishment for the murder of a police officer is the death penalty. After 10 days of general questioning, 46 jurors have been cleared for cause (out of 158 jurors). There are five days and 80 jurors left in the scheduled jury questioning process. The trial is in recess Friday and on Monday (religious holiday) and will resume on Tuesday with another 16 jurors.

www.OfficerRichardMay.net

45 jurors accepteds out of 142 jurors questioned

(photo courtesy of San Jose Mercury News) Rich's casket being carried out from the service at the San Jose HP Pavilion

Another day in court was completed and what started as a productive day (three jurors cleared in the morning) finished with just one juror cleared in the afternoon. And we lost another juror who passed for cause two weeks ago due to new information about her knowledge of one of our law enforcement witnesses. So four steps forward and one step back.

The fourteenth day of jury selection overall and ninth day of general voir dire was completed. 15 jurors were questioned Wednesday (one juror called in sick with the flu and was rescheduled to next week). Four jurors were passed for cause and 11 jurors were excused. Additionally a juror who was passed for cause two weeks ago returned to court to advise that she learned at a party she attended that one of her friends was a Sheriff’s Office sergeant who will be a witness in our trial; her view was that he is an excellent officer and she would believe whatever he testified about. Judge Parsons excused her from the jury. Thus there are now 45 jurors cleared for cause (out of 142 jurors questioned). The trial resumes Thursday morning with general questioning of another group of jurors.

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Jury Selection - Another Day (We have 42 of the 85 Jurors needed)

The thirteenth day of jury selection overall and eighth day of general questioning of jurors was completed today. 16 jurors were questioned and five of the jurors were passed for cause and directed to return on October 8, 2009 for the final jury selection procedure.

Of the 11 jurors excused for cause today, seven of the jurors stated they would only consider the punishment of death for the first degree murder of a police officer and would not consider the punishment of life in prison; three jurors were excused because they could never return a death verdict; and one juror was excused for bizarre answers on a variety of topics.

A total of 42 jurors (out of 127 jurors questioned) have been passed for cause and return on October 8. Our target is 83-85 jurors passed for cause, so we have a ways to go. Jury selection resumes Wednesday morning at 9:00 with questioning of another 16 jurors.

A total of 37 jurors, out of 111 jurors questioned, are in the October 8th pool.

The 12th day of jury selection is overall and the seventh day of questioning jurors about their ability to be fair in sitting on this case was completed. Another 16 jurors were interviewed and four of the jurors were passed for cause. A total of 37 jurors (out of 111 jurors questioned) have now been passed for cause. The trial resumes this morning with general questioning of another 16 jurors.

Of the 12 jurors excused today, nine of the jurors were excused based on their opposition to the death penalty as a potential punishment in the case; one juror was excused because of his view that only the death penalty is appropriate for the murder of a police officer; one juror was excused based on a new hardship (loss of $10,000 in savings if he had to sit for this lengthy trial); and one juror was excused because he was the defendant's father's general physician for many years (what are the odds he would be called as a potential juror in this case; very long odds.)

The four jurors passed for cause are three professional women and one man employed at Kaiser Hospital. All stated they could fairly consider both the death penalty and life without parole in a penalty phase of the trial.

www.OfficerRichardMay.org

The eleventh day of jury selection - Next day in court is Monday

(Picture from San Jose Mercury News - Mounted agencies outside the HP Pavilion Services for Rich)


Another day of jury selection was completed. This was the eleventh day of jury selection overall and the sixth day of individual questioning of the prospective jurors. Another 16 jurors were questioned and only three were passed for cause today. Of the thirteen jurors excused, four were for language problems, five for their anti-death penalty position (meaning they would never consider the death penalty), and four for their pro-death penalty position (meaning they jurors would only consider the punishment of death for killing a police officer and would not fairly consider the alternative punishment of life without parole.)

A total of 33 jurors (out of 95 jurors questioned) have now been passed for cause. The trial is in recess Friday and resumes on Monday morning at 9:00 with further voir dire of a new group of 16 jurors.


And the march goes on.

www.OfficerRichardMay.org

Tenth Day of Jury Selection

( San Jose Mercury News Photo - Front of the funeral procession from East Palo Alto to San Jose, along Hwy 101)

The tenth day of jury selection overall and fifth day of general voir dire was conducted. 16 jurors were questioned and six jurors were passed for cause. A total of 30 jurors have been passed for cause and directed to return on Thursday, October 8, 2009 for the final jury selection process. The trial is in recess Wednesday (state court closure day) and will resume Thursday morning at 9:00 with further jury questioning of another group of eight jurors in the morning and eight jurors in the afternoon.

Everything else proceeds on schedule.

www.OfficerRichardMay.org

Another day in the jury selection trenches

(Image owned by the San Jose Mercury News - Firefighters on Hwy 101 overpasses as funeral procession travels from East Palo to the HP Pavilion in San Jose)

Another day in the jury selection trenches. The 22nd day of jury trial overall, the ninth day of jury selection overall and the fourth day of general questioning of the jurors was completed. Seven jurors were questioned on Monday and seven jurors were passed for cause and directed to return for the final jury selection day on October 8, 2009. A total of 24 jurors have been passed for cause out of the 64 that have been questioned so far. The trial resumes Tuesday morning at 9:00 with another eight jurors in the morning and eight jurors in the afternoon.

An uneventful day otherwise.

Murder Trial of East Palo Alto Police Officer Rich may

[The front Seat of Officer May's Patrol car, taken a few weeks prior to Officer May's murder, by his father, Rick]

The first week of general questioning of the jurors was completed today. We questioned a total of 63 jurors and 17 made it through to the next phase. That seems small but it is about normal in a death penalty case. I think it was a good week for us and most of these 17 jurors would be pretty solid jurors for the prosecution in the case. Here is the breakdown for today:

The eighth day of jury selection overall and third day of general voir dire was completed yesterday. In the morning, one of the jurors (a 79 year old woman) passed for cause on Wednesday afternoon called and advised the court and counsel that after court she had major headaches and pain and requested to be excused for medical hardship. With the stipulation of the attorneys, the court granted the request and excused the juror. Yesterday 15 prospective jurors were questioned by the judge and attorneys concerning the death penalty, publicity and other issues in the case. Four of the 15 jurors were passed for cause and directed to return on Thursday, October 8, 2009 for the final jury selection process. A total of 17 jurors have been passed for cause so far.

The trial is in recess today and resumes on Monday morning at 9:00 with general voir dire of another 16 jurors.

www.OfficerRichardMay.org

After two days of general questioning - 14 jurors will return on Oct 8 for final Selection

Today a new group of 16 jurors was in court for questioning on the death penalty, knowledge of the case, and other issues in the case. The questioning took all day and 8 of the 16 jurors were passed for cause and directed to return on October 8, 2009 for the final jury selection.

Of the eight jurors excused for cause, one was excused for a financial hardship and the other seven were excused based on their views on the death penalty (inability to fairly consider the punishment).

After two days of general questioning, 14 jurors have been passed for cause (this is a high percentage for a case involving the death penalty). The trial resumes this morning with questioning of the next group of 16 jurors.

Jury Selection Continues - First Day of Voir Dire

Sixth day of jury selection overall and first day of general voir dire was completed today. 16 jurors were questioned by the judge and attorneys concerning their ability to be fair and impartial in considering the death penalty and other issues in the case. Eight jurors in the morning and eight jurors in the afternoon were examined. 6 of the 16 jurors were passed for cause and directed to return on Thursday, October 8, 2009 for the final jury selection process.

Of the other ten jurors, seven were excused for their views on the death penalty (could not consider or impose that punishment), one was excused due to health issues, and two were excused for prior knowledge or contact with participants in the case (one who knows the prosecutor and one who knows the Merrill family).

Jury selection resumes Wednesday morning at 9:00 with further voir dire of another group of eight jurors in the morning and eight in the afternoon.

Judge Parsons denied the defense motion to dismiss the jury panel

Another day in trial but in the morning only.

The hearing was conducted on the defense Buford motion to dismiss the jury panel for failure to have an adequate representation by African-Americans in the jury pool. One witness testified: Superior Court Assistant Administrator Jill Selvaggio. Ms. Selvaggio testified about the system for summoning jurors for jury duty and how the jurors are placed on panels for jury duty in particular courtrooms. She testified that the system is completely race neutral and conducted randomly by computer processing. Judge Parsons denied the defense motion to strike the jury panel. The court then discussed jury questioning procedures (specifically questioning on the death penalty and other significant issues) for the start of individual juror questioning next week. The trial is in recess today and will resume on Tuesday, September 7, 2009 with the start of general voir dire of the prospective jurors.

240 juror questionnaires have been completed. The District Attorney's office has a lot of reading to do over the weekend and the ensuing days.

The fifth and last day of hardship jury selection was completed today

The fifth and last day of hardship jury selection was completed today. Two additional panels of 75 jurors each were brought into court this morning and afternoon.

Of the 150 prospective jurors met today, 111 were excused due to hardship and 39 were passed for hardship and filled out questionnaires. Those 39 jurors were given dates to return for general questioning starting on September 8, 2009.

The total numbers for the five days of hardship jury selection are: 750 total jurors examined; 510 of those jurors were excused for hardship and 240 jurors were passed for hardship and will return for questioning at a later date in September. This now completes the first phase of jury selection. The court wanted approximately 225 jurors to make it through this phase and we easily exceeded that number.

The next phase of jury selection starts on Tuesday, September 7, 2009 with questioning of the individual jurors who passed for hardship. This process starts on Tuesday and will be conducted through October 7, 2009. We are still very much on pace for the opening statements on October 13, 2009.

The trial resumes tomorrow morning, Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 10:00 with a hearing on the defense motion to dismiss all of the jurors that were selected over the course of the last five days on the basis that the system used by the San Mateo Superior Court is flawed in that it failed to call an adequate percentage of African-American jurors into the prospective juror pool (the 750 jurors called into the courtroom). We will present the testimony of the Superior Court jury commissioner who will testify how prospective jurors are called and how the court computer system does so randomly.

We will also discuss further the jury selection questions to be posed to prospective jurors next Tuesday and the ensuing days of jury selection. I believe the trial will be in recess Thursday afternoon and on Friday.

Fourth Day of Juror Selection

We completed the fourth day of jury selection today and another 148 prospective jurors were brought into court and asked about sitting on this three months trial.

Of the 148 prospective jurors, 99 were excused due to hardship and 49 were passed for hardship and filled out questionnaires. Those 49 jurors were given dates to return for general questioning starting on September 8, 2009.

The total numbers for the four days of hardship jury selection are: 600 total jurors examined; 399 of those jurors were excused for hardship and 201 jurors were passed for hardship and will return for questioning at a later date in September.

It appears we will complete hardship inquiry tomorrow (Wednesday) with the final panels of 75 jurors in the morning and 75 jurors in the afternoon.

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.

Trial will Resume on Monday -100 Jurors pass the Hardsahip test

A brief trial update today. The second day of jury selection was completed and hardship inquiry was conducted on another 150 jurors. 41 of the 150 jurors were passed for hardship and move on to the next stage of general juror questioning.

The two day total is 300 jurors questioned and 100 of them remain in play for the next phase of jury selection. That is a pretty high passage rate (33%) for a case where we are asking them to be available from October through December.

The trial is in recess Friday and will resume on Monday morning. Another 150 new jurors will be brought in on Monday for hardship inquiry.

First Day of Jury Selection - Rich May Murder Trial

Wednesday - Auguest 26, 2009

The first day of jury selection was conducted and 152 prospective jurors were brought into court (67 in the morning and 85 in the afternoon). The jurors were silent when Judge Parsons advised them that this was a murder trial involving the killing of a police officer but there was an audible and loud gasp/groan when they were advised the trial could last until mid-December.

The jurors were told to fill out a hardship form if they were requesting an excuse from the case due to hardship (financial, educational, medical, etc.). 58 of the 152 jurors were passed for hardship and filled out questionnaires (that is a high rate for a trial that could last to mid-December).
The trial resumes Thursday morning at 9:00 with hardship inquiry on two more panels of 75 jurors.

Murder Trial Finally Started - With Motions

The judge recovered and we were back in court today. Several motions were discussed and refined the jury selection process that starts tomorrow morning. Here is what occurred today.

Jury selection starts tomorrow morning, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 9:00. The first six days of jury selection will be spent on hardship inquiry: questioning jurors whether they have a hardship in sitting as a juror for a three month trial. These six days are August 25, 27, 31, September 1, 2 and 3. 900 jurors will be brought in for hardship inquiry. 150 jurors a day (75 in morning and 75 in afternoon) for the six days.

-The jurors will be advised that they will be needed for questioning for one day in September and if selected on the jury, they will need to be available from October 12, 2009 to approximately December 16, 2009. They will then be asked if they have a hardship which means financial hardship, school hardship, health hardship or language hardship that precludes them sitting on this jury. The court will discuss the hardship claims with the attorneys and rule whether to excuse the individual jurors requesting to be excused.

-Jurors who do not claim a hardship will then be asked to fill out a juror questionnaire (15 pages long with loads of questions about the juror and the juror's attitudes or topics like the death penalty, crime, police, etc.) Those jurors will then be given a day to return in September for individual questioning on their ability to be fair and impartial in this case.

-Individual questioning of the jurors who clear hardship will start on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 and will be conducted for the remainder of the month and perhaps the first week of October(Monday through Thursday; Fridays the trial is not in session). The court granted the defense attorneys' request for the trial to be in recess on Monday, September 28, 2009 (Yom Kippur).

-The jurors will come in groups of eight in the morning and eight in the afternoon and we will question the jurors on the specific topics of death penalty, gangs, pretrial publicity (knowledge of the case), police officer-victim and race. This questioning is to see if the jurors can be fair and impartial in hearing our case. It is a lengthy and tedious process but the goal is to get fair jurors.

-The court decided there will be five alternate jurors for our trial.

-As note above, the court set the tentative date for the opening statements for October 12, 2009 followed immediately the same day with the start of the prosecution evidence. The December 16, 2009 finish date is a broad guess and it is just to give the jurors a tentative outside date for completion of the case; it might go much quicker once we get going.

-The court denied the defense motion for a lengthy statement to the prospective jurors from the judge about the history of the death penalty in California and what the death penalty and life without parole mean today.

-Without prosecution objection, the court granted the defense request for 48 hour advance notice to the other side when one attorney is calling an expert witness (for planning purposes).

Judge was Sick - Delayed until Tuesday

An update from our first day back in court after the five months delay. Holding true to form (that something always seems to be impeding our progress to justice in this case), at 8:30 this morning our trial judge, Judge Craig Parsons, called in sick with the flu. He told his court clerk that he had been up all night and simply could not come in today. He is hoping it is just the 24 hour flu and expects that he will be back in court Tuesday morning.

So our case was called in the courtroom of the presiding judge, Judge Stephen Hall, who simply continued the case for one day. Assuming Judge Parsons is healthy tomorrow, we will resume Tuesday morning and start jury selection Wednesday morning at 9:00.

MURDER TRAIL WILL RESTART AUGUST 24

Hello all. Thank you for the many emails. A brief note...

The trial is currently scheduled to start in two weeks - assuming that no filings occur which will create another delay.

The Jury Selection process should start later in the week of August 24.

It is expected that opening statements and testimony from witnesses will begin at the end of September or more likely the first week of October.

The Defense is bringing a post-traumatic stress disorder claim along with a self-defense claim.

You can expect that Assistant District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe will bring a strong case against both of these claims.

Rich's Father...