Selecting twelve jurors capable of impartially trying a famous and controversial defendant is already a complex process. But at the historic trial of Donald Trump, the need to preserve their anonymity adds an additional level of difficulty.
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In early March, Judge Merchan ruled that the jurors’ names, as well as their business and home addresses, would be disclosed only to the parties, due to the “likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, physical harm or harassment.” .
But since Monday, potential jurors, identified only by a number, have exposed entire sections of their lives by answering 42 questions in court, relating in particular to their neighborhood of residence, their professional and family situation, their level of education, or their hobbies.
This partial transparency compromised the total anonymity desired by the judge.
One of the jurors retained on the first day, a nurse in an oncology department, told him of her “concerns” on Thursday after being informed by those around her that she had been identified as a potential juror.
After a brief discussion, Judge Merchan excused her from serving on the jury.
“We have just lost” what would undoubtedly have been a good juror, he lamented, instructing the journalists present not to mention physical elements allowing the members of the jury to be identified. The magistrate particularly regretted the mention of the Irish accent of one of the jurors.
He further ordered that answers to questions about jurors’ current or previous employers be neither published in the media nor recorded in the transcript of the proceedings. “It has become a problem,” he commented.
Despite these pitfalls, the twelve members of the jury and one of the six required alternates had already been selected Friday morning.
The objective of this “voir dire” process (literally “to tell the truth” according to an expression from Old French) is to select 12 jurors and six alternates for this trial scheduled to last six to eight weeks, or at least until at the end of May.
The exercise is all the more delicate as the Republican billionaire complains of being judged in New York, a Democratic stronghold, a message echoed by his supporters on social networks and conservative media.
Contrary to practice, for logistical reasons, the judge announced on April 8 that potential jurors who declared themselves incapable of attending the entire duration of the trial or of being impartial would be exempted without having to provide justification.
They must also specify how they obtain information, whether they have an opinion on the way in which Donald Trump is treated in this matter or on the impact on their impartiality of his status as candidate in the presidential election in November.
Hundreds of randomly selected Manhattan residents received summons to appear in court on April 15.
