It has been noted that more than 50 prospective jurors were recently excused from the landmark trial of former president Donald Trump on Monday after they said they would not be able to try him fairly and impartially via Yahoo.
Well, ninety-six potential panelists were assembled in a New York court to be screened for their ability to fairly judge Trump and accused of covering up hush money payments to a porn star with whom he is alleged to have had an affair.
A prospective juror, a woman with short hair, said “I just couldn’t do it” as she left court, which was adjourned for the day and will resume Tuesday at 9:30 am (1330 GMT).
At least nine other prospective jurors were excused after raising their hand when Judge Juan Merchan asked if they could not serve for any other reason.
A randomly selected group of 18 prospective jurors were taken through pre-agreed screening questions, covering education, news habits, hobbies and their ability to be neutral.
Merchan has said there is a pool of up to 500 Manhattan residents from which the court can draw to impanel the jury that will judge arguably one of the most well-known and controversial men in the world.
Jurors has to answer a questionnaire including checks on whether they have been members of far-right groups associated with Trump. More than a dozen court officers were stationed around the courtroom in Manhattan as the process ground on and Trump craned his neck to see the prospective panelists.
The selection of 12 jurors — given anonymity to protect them from what the judge says is risk of bribery or even physical harm — is expected to be a tortuous process.
It could go on as long as two weeks as per one of Trump’s lawyers. The Republican presidential candidate has been accused of falsifying business records to conceal an alleged extramarital sexual encounter with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
This was done to prevent any last-minute upheaval during his first election campaign in 2016. He is currently facing three other criminal cases, which include hoarding of top-secret documents after leaving office and an alleged attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
