Things slowed down fast
Court officials had earlier thought jury selection might take as long as two weeks. But hopes were high Thursday that the 12 members might be seated by close of business after seven members were picked Tuesday. Justice Juan Merchan had suggested that, if the fast pace continued, the prosecution and defence would offer introductory remarks Monday morning.
Then Thursday began as a slog, with both sides angling to gain any advantage, or — conversely — to get rid of any problems. For the prosecutors, that meant challenging a previously seated juror who they had discovered had credibility issues. Merchan spent a long sidebar discussing the issue with lawyers from both sides and the juror. In the end, the juror was excused.
By lunchtime, the jury was shrinking, not growing.
They sped up fast, too
Merchan was quick to get back on track. After 18 potential jurors were seated in the jury box, he kept them moving as they navigated a lengthy questionnaire with Trump looking on.
After lawyers on both sides had spent 30 minutes each quizzing them, Merchan gave the lawyers about a half-hour to prepare challenges — both for cause, which require lawyers to give reasons, and peremptory challenges that can be made without explanation.
But with both sides having limited peremptory challenges, and Merchan unwilling to strike many jurors for cause, the panel filled up fast.
Trump was still driving people from the jury
Ninety-six additional prospective jurors were called in Thursday and asked whether they had a problem with being impartial. Dozens said they did and were dismissed.
That attrition speaks to the difficulties that lawyers have faced in finding people who feel they can be fair in a trial of a man who inspires strong emotions. And there were second thoughts: Several potential jurors told the judge that they would be impartial, only to later admit that they simply could not.
There were also moments of unintentional hilarity: One potential juror, who had said she could be fair, was confronted by the defence team over social media posts she’d made in the past, including one in which she called Trump a racist and a sexist.
Reading it aloud, she stopped.
“Oops,” she said. “That sounds bad.”
She was excused.
The judge is concerned about the press
Merchan, a veteran jurist, has overseen trials that attracted great public interest. But there has been nothing to compare with Trump’s trial, which has drawn scores of reporters to the courthouse. That swarm has been quick to report and post even the smallest developments, including personal details that potential jurors offered up during selection.
On Thursday, that eagerness earned a rebuke from the judge, who cited press coverage that revealed details about a juror as part of the reason she said she could not serve. He said she “probably would have been a very good juror.”
Merchan seemed particularly annoyed by reporters’ firsthand observations, asking them to “refrain from writing about anything that you observe with your eyes and hear with your ears related to the jurors that’s not on the record.”
He also suggested sterner steps if those rules were broken.
“If you can’t do that, if we can’t stick to that, we will have to see what else we need to do to ensure that the jurors remain safe,” Merchan said.
The jury is as diverse as New York
The 12 members of the panel, seven men and five women, reflect the diversity of Manhattan.
Trump grew up in Queens. But he made his name in Manhattan, literally putting “Trump” on his buildings. He revelled in a brash love-him-or-hate-him reputation, an outsize figure in an outsize city. He bestrode the tabloid newspapers and craved headlines and front pages.
But then many New Yorkers turned against him after he declared he would run for president in 2015 and voiced right-wing views.
In 2020, he declared himself a Florida resident.
He returned to Manhattan under duress and under indictment. His fate will now be in the hands of New Yorkers.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek
©2024 THE NEW YORK TIMES
