3 nov 1994 - The jury is selected

Description:

Jury panel selected:

The jury consisted of 8 African Americans blacks, 2 Hispanics, 1 half-Caucasian, half Native American, and 1 Caucasian female.

Sample Jury Questions:

14. Where were you born?

39. While in school, what was your favorite subject?

40. What was your least favorite subject?

49. Spouse-partner’s place of birth?

142. Have you ever had any personal interaction with a celebrity (such as writing a celebrity a letter, receiving a letter or photograph from a celebrity, or getting an autograph from a celebrity)? Yes? No? If yes, please explain:

145. Please name the person for whom you are a great fan and describe why you are a fan of that person?

161. Do you have any affiliation with professional sports?

162. Have you ever experienced domestic violence in your home, either growing up or as an adult? Please describe the circumstances and the impact it has had upon you.

172. Do you think using physical force on a fellow family member is sometimes justified?

184. How do you feel about interracial marriage?

186. Have you ever dated a person of a different race? Yes? No? If yes, how did you feel about it?

191. When you were growing up, what was the racial and ethnic make-up of your neighborhood?

193. Before the Simpson case, did you read any book, articles or magazines concerning DNA analysis?

201. Do you have a religious affiliation or preference? Yes? No? If yes, please describe. How important would you say religion is in your life? Would anything about your religious beliefs make it difficult for you to sit in judgement of another person? Yes? No? Possibly? How often do you attend religious services?

202. What is your political affiliation? (Please circle) 1. Democrat 2. Republican 3. Independent 4. Other (please specify)

203. Are you currently registered to vote? Yes? No?

204. Did you vote in the June, 1994 primary elections? Yes? No?

205. Do you consider yourself politically: Active? Moderately active? Inactive?

211. Have you ever provided a urine sample to be analyzed for any purpose? Yes? No? If yes, did you feel comfortable with the accuracy of the results? Yes? No?

212. Do you believe it is immoral or wrong to do an amniocentesis to determine whether a fetus had a genetic defect? Yes? No? Don’t have an opinion?

213. Have you or anyone close to you undergone amniocentesis?

215. Did you take science or math courses in college?

222. Do you have (please check) Security bars? Alarms? Guard dog? Weapons for self-protection?

230. Have you ever seen a crime being committed (other than where you were the victim)? If yes, how many times and what kind of crime(s)?

244. What type of books do you prefer? (Example: Non-fiction? Historical? Romance? Espionage? Mystery?)

248. Have you ever written a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine? Yes? No? If yes, what was the subject matter of your comment:

249. Do you watch any of the early evening "tabloid news" programs? Such as "Hard Copy," "Current Affair," "American Journal," etc.

251. Which television news shows do you enjoy watching on a regular basis?

252. What are your leisure time interests, hobbies and activities?

254. What accomplishments in your life are you most proud of?

255. What groups ore organizations do you belong to now or have you belonged to for a significant period of time in the past? (For example, bowling leagues, church groups, AA, Sierra Club, MECLA, National Rifle Association, ACLU, YWCA, PTA, NAACP, etc.)

257. Are there any charities or organizations to which you make donations? Yes? No? If yes, please list the organizations or charities to which you contribute:

265. Are you a fan of the USC Trojans football team?

270. How many hours per week do you watch sporting activities?

271. Name the last three sporting events you attended.

273. What are your favorite sports? Why?

274. Name the most significant sport figure, sport program, or sporting event scandals you recall.

275. Does playing sports build an individual’s character? Yes? No? Please explain your answer whether you answer yes or no:

276. Do you seek out positions of leadership? (Please check answer) Always? Often? Seldom? Never?

277. Please name the three public figures you admire most.

281. Do you own any special knives (other than for cooking), such as hunting or pen knives?

285. Would you like to be a juror in this case?


MAJORITY-BLACK JURY SELECTED IN O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL By Christine Spolar November 4, 1994

"LOS ANGELES, NOV. 3 -- After hours of contentious and tense challenges by attorneys from both sides, a predominately African American jury of eight women and four men today was selected to sit in judgment of former football star O.J. Simpson.

The individuals, culled from a pool that once included more than 300 people, seemed stunned when Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito told them that they had "survived" what at times appeared to be a human chess game played by the competing attorneys. After Ito quickly swore them in, one juror, a Hispanic 38-year-old letter carrier, covered her face and then blinked her eyes rapidly as if in shock.

Simpson, 47, faces first-degree murder charges in the June 12 slashing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman. The celebrity case has generated intense news coverage, which Ito said he feared could hurt the chances for a fair jury selection.

Today Ito congratulated the 12 people who, in his words, would be entering the "league of judges." "I want you to conduct yourself as such," he said, admonishing them to continue, at least until next week, to avoid all television, radio, books or magazines in order to serve on the jury.

"I know you can rise to the occasion despite the unusual circumstances. I know you will do what is right, and I trust you," Ito said, clasping his hand to his chest and looking intently at those waiting in the jury box.

Jury selection was a painstaking three-week process because of the racial complexity of the case. Simpson is black; the victims were white. Of the jurors selected today, eight are African American, including six women and two men. The other jurors include one Hispanic man, one Hispanic woman, one white woman and one man who described himself as white and Native American.

Fifteen alternates, an unusually high number of potential substitutes because of Ito's fear that jurors will be tainted by publicity, will be chosen in the next few weeks. Seven people who were not eliminated or chosen today will be considered in the next voir dire, and the next round of question will start Tuesday.

Simpson's jurors lead lives far different from that led by the millionaire former athlete. They come from middle-class communities in Inglewood, Long Beach, Burbank, Glendale, South Central and East Los Angeles and among their ranks are a postal worker, a letter carrier, a flight attendant, an Amtrak supervisor and a dietitian.

Two hold college degrees, nine graduated from high school. One, a truck driver who delivers Pepsi, finished 11 years of public school.

Ironically, the last juror selected was a man who has worked 25 years for Hertz Corp., the rental car company that featured Simpson in its ads and made him a household name beyond his football years.

There were some curious, if not surprising, choices for the jury. One man had been arrested twice and, during questioning last week, said he had mixed feelings about the Los Angeles Police Department. Another juror's father was a police officer. And a third man had said he could not believe Simpson, a popular California native, could commit such a crime.

Attorneys for both sides knocked 10 potential jurors out of the pool, using peremptory challenges. The prosecution eliminated eight African American potential jurors and two whites from the 39 people who appeared in court today. The defense excused two African Americans, five whites, one Hispanic and two Native Americans.

Each side accused the other of racial bias, appealing to Ito to refuse certain challenges. Ito, who listened to each side explain away the accusation, did not refuse any challenge.

Within a half hour of today's court session, it was apparent that the defense team was concerned about the intent of the prosecution challenges. Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., in a sidebar discussion, argued most vigorously after the prosecution asked for its sixth challenge -- this time against a 32-year-old black woman who worked for the U.S. Postal Service.

The woman, a security agent who uses a firearm in her job and dates a sheriff's deputy, had said in earlier questioning that she knew police officers sometimes lie in their work because of experience she had had with her supervisor.

Cochran jumped up immediately when the woman, dressed with care in a formal black velvet pantsuit, gold lame shoes and three-strand pearl choker, was dismissed. He later said the defense team was fighting "every time" the prosecution challenges an African American juror.

Defense attorney Robert L. Shapiro said, outside the courtroom, that the defense was crying foul on racial grounds because the prosecution seemed to have a strategy to "exclude black females and blacks in general."

Of the 39 people who came to court today, about 61 percent or 24 were black and about 23 percent, nine people, were white. According to 1990 census, Los Angeles County's population is 56 percent white and 11 percent black."


Sourced from:

Famous Trials



The Washinton Post

Https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/11/04/majority-black-jury-selected-in-oj-simpson-murder-trial/e070bd2c-20b6-43c8-b6b2-e387f42da053/

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