Yesterday jury selection ended early due to what Jose Baez called "a private matter" but both sides said jury selection today will start on time.The entire defense team is already in the courtroom, including Jose Baez. The prosecutors have also just arrived. CaseyAnthony has just been escorted into the courtroom. Baez is smiling, speaking to court officers. He then steps to the back of the room, chats with Perry, who just stepped in for a moment. Baez has now returned to the defense table were Casey Anthony is sitting. He seems to be in good spirits this morning.There are about 20 spectators in the courtroom this morning (mostly reporters). That's a few more than we normally have at this hour. Judge Perry takes the bench. Both sides say they are ready to proceed with Casey Anthony jury selection. Judge Perry goes over some housekeeping matters related to some prospective jurors. It appears that there are only 11 more prospective jurors at this time. Prosecutor George accepts the hardship situation of the four jurors the judge has mentioned. Baez agrees, so all 4 are excused. Today is the last day they have access to a new pool of jurors. Otherwise, they'll have to wait until Monday for fresh jurors.
The first juror of the day has been brought in. She is a white female in her 60’s. Judge Perry questions this juror about her knowledge of pretrial publicity in this case. Because she has formed the opinion that Casey Anthony is guilty, this potential juror is excused for cause.
The next potential juror has been brought in. He is a white male in his 40s. The judge questions this potential juror about pretrial publicity. Drane Burdick begins the State's publicity portion of the voir dire.Baez begins the defense publicity voir dire. Judge Perry moves to the issue of the death penalty.Ashton has no death penalty questions for the potential juror, so Finnell begins the defense portion of the death penalty voir dire. Prosecutor Drane Burdick begins her general voir dire.
Baez asks Perry for a sidebar. The potential juror is being included in this discussion. The sidebar ends. Baez begins his general voir dire. The potential juror leaves the room. The defense takes a moment and then says they have no challenges. Neither does the prosecution. We now have 12 jurors. Judge Perry calls for a 10 minute recess. Perry returns to the bench and calls for the next potential juror. The next potential juror is a white male in his 30’s. The judge begins the pretrial publicity phase of this new juror's voir dire. During the recess, one of our field producers had a chance to chat with Jose Baez. Baez wouldn't talk about yesterday, but is certain. ly showing no signs of ill health and is in good spirits. Prosecutor George begins the State's pretrial publicity voir dire. Baez now begins the defense’s publicity voir dire. Judge Perry now moves to the issue of the death penalty. Neither side has questions for the death penalty portion of voir dire. Prosecutor George begins the State's general voir dire. Baez now begins his general voir dire.The potential juror leaves the room and neither side challenges. Perry calls for a 5 minute recess.
There are now 13 jurors in the pool and 8 more to be questioned.
Judge Perry has returned to the stand. If needed, Perry will bring a new panel of potential jurors and ask about financial hardship as a group, rather than individually. It sounds as if Perry now plans to swear in the first 12 jurors tomorrow morning.Perry reminds the attorneys they may back strike until the jury is actually sworn.He will decide on the number of alternates before days end.
The next potential juror is a white female in her 60’s. Judge Perry begins to discuss the issue of pretrial publicity with her.Neither side has questions on pretrial publicity. Judge Perry moves on to talk about the death penalty. Ashton only has a few questions for the State's death penalty voir dire. Finnell comes up after to do the questioning for the defense. Ashton now begins general voir dire for the prosecution. Mason now begins the defense’s general voir dire. Mason finishes his questions and the juror moves outside the courtroom. Neither side challenges the potential juror.
Once again, Perry discusses jury scheduling with the attorneys. He plans to swear in the final jurors at 3:00 pm on Friday.The judge calls a 5 minute recess so that the attorneys can discuss the juror situation.After briefly huddling together in the courtroom, all of the attorneys then go back to chambers to see the judge .Perry is back on the bench now and calls for a lunch recess until 1:30p.
After lunch a new panel of 30 prospective jurors will be brought in. Once questioned for hardship, they’ll begin the second round voir dire. According to Judge Perry, he's hoping/planning to swear in jurors on Friday. They would then be transported to Orlando on Sunday. The parties are slowly starting to assemble in the courtroom. No sign of Casey Anthony yet. In preparation for the new panel of prospective jurors, reporters and other spectators are being moved to the back of the courtroom. Also in preparation of the new jurors, the attorneys are all turning their chairs around to face the gallery. Casey Anthony has just entered the courtroom. Judge Perry takes the bench. Court for Casey Anthony jury selection is in recess again, pending the arrival of the new jury pool. The panel of prospective new jurors enters the courtroom. There are 29 potential jurors and they are sworn in.Judge Perry has taken the bench. After introducing the parties in the courtroom, Judge Perry begins his preliminary instructions. The potential jurors seem to be giving Perry their full attention. He tells them that the case could last 8 weeks. Judge Perry reads the indictment. While he does so, Casey Anthony looks down, with her hands clasped. One of the court officers has just passed a note to the judge. Once he sees it, he suddenly announces a brief recess. Prospective jurors are being allowed to go to the restroom, but are otherwise staying in the courtroom. Judge Perry returns to the bench and resumes his preliminary instructions.
Starting with the first potential juror, Judge Perry asks each prospective juror if it would be a hardship for them to serve. So that he can hear better, the judge steps down to the podium and asks each juror if it would be a hardship to serve. Because they are not near any microphones, it is very difficult to hear the juror responses. 9 out of the first 10 claim hardship. Perry now moves to the second row of potential jurors. Nearly every juror says serving for 8 weeks would cause a financial hardship. One potential juror says he would have no financial hardship, but has a family hardship because of his elderly parents. Another potential juror takes care of a terminally ill boy with only 60 days to live. 7 of the 10 in the second row claim hardship. Perry now moves to the last row of potential jurors. Most claim a financial or family hardship. One potential juror was recently widowed, and is dealing with those kinds of issues. Most would not be compensated by their employers. Of the 9 jurors in the last row, 5 claim a hardship of some kind. Out of the 29 jurors, only 8 have not claimed a hardship of some sort. Several potential jurors are told to check with their work to see if they'll be compensated. Most who claimed hardship are being excused. There are now 9 jurors left in the courtroom. Perry asks them if they have heard about or formed an opinion about the Casey Anthony caseOf the 9 potential jurors remaining, one says that he has never heard of the Casey Anthony case. The other 8 have all heard of the case. Of those 8, 2 say they have already formed an opinion for the #CaseyAnthony case. The potential jurors then leave the courtroom.
The next potential juror has been brought up and Perry is questioning her on pretrial publicity.The prosecution does not question the potential juror on this part of the voir dire. Baez comes up to question for the defense.Perry now moves on to the death penalty portion of the voir dire. The State has no death penalty questions, so Ann Finnell begins the defense portion of the death penalty voir dire. This juror is a white female in her 50’s.Before beginning the general voir dire, Perry asks the potential juror to step out of the room. Perry then announces that potential juror 4053 from the new panel will not be compensated, so the judge excuses him for hardship. Perry now calls a 5 minute recess.
Judge Perry back on bench. The potential juror returns to the stand for her general voir dire. Drane Burdick begins her questioning. The potential juror returns to the stand for her general voir dire. Drane Burdick begins her questioning. Baez begins his general voir dire. The juror leaves the room. Neither side challenges her, so she is passed and becomes the 15th juror.The next juror is brought in. She is a white female in her 40’s..Judge Perry questions the juror about her knowledge of . pretrial publicity of this case.George begins the State's pretrial publicity voir dire. Juror says she mostly watches local television. Jose Baez begins defense questioning of pre-trial publicity. Judge Belvin Perry is advising the juror on death penalty. The prosecution has no death penalty questions. Finnell begins to question on that topic for the defense. Juror does not have a strong opinion on the death penalty. George begins his general voir dire. Mason begins the defense general voir dire. The judge and attorneys go to a sidebar with this juror to discuss the death of her mother, something she testified was "traumatic." The sidebar ends. Mason's questioning is now finished. The sidebar ends. Mason's questioning is now finished. The juror leaves the room. The defense challenges her for cause, based on what she has just said in confidence about her mother's death. Mason claims she can't be impartial and that she may be biased toward the prosecution due to her work. Judge Perry denies the cause challenge. She is then passed and becomes the 16th juror
. The next juror is 170 (3178), a white female in her 40s. Judge Perry questions this juror on her knowledge of the case. She says she actually thought the case was already over. . Judge Perry now questions this juror on the death penalty since she said during her hardship voir dire that she was against it. The juror is still against the death penalty: "There's nothing that would change my mind on the death penalty." Neither side has any questions for this juror. After she leaves the room, she is excused for cause on the death penalty issue.
The last juror for today is 162 (3175), a white female in her 30s. Judge Perry questions this juror on her pretrial knowledge of the case. This juror tells the judge she firmly believes Casey Anthony is guilty and can't set that aside.The juror leaves the room, after which she is excused for cause.
The judge says that there are 4 more jurors from the first group of potential jurors, plus 8 more from the new panel today. Drane Burdick says there may also be a disqualification issue with one of the new jurors. Mason requests the judge to order or "strongly suggest" that the State give the defense a list of the next day's witnesses each day. The judge says he has no power to do that, under FL rules. Perry: "You need to have whatever files you need to have there . . . but I have no authority to order them to do that." Baez suggests that the State share "at least a block of witnesses." Perry says "That's beyond my pay grade. I can't order that." Baez discusses preliminary guidelines and "how to proceed with opening statements and demonstrative aids...the use of exhibits in openings." Drane Burdick enters the discussion, also seeking guidance. The judge urges the parties to agree on the opening exhibits. Judge Perry says he will help if he can, but he will have very limited availability over the weekend. Court is in recess until 8:30 a.m.
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