Federal Criminal Lawyer Michael Leonard provides insight into Trump Jury selection. Jury selection is set to begin in former President Trump’s trial in State Court in Manhattan. As readers will recall, President Trump is being prosecuted for approximately three dozen charges of creating false business records in an alleged attempt to cover-up a hush money payment purportedly made to a woman with whom Trump had an affair, Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors allege Trump engaged in that conduct in order to swing the election in his favor.
Jury selection is expected to last two weeks. Both sides will of course be looking for jurors who can be fair and impartial. However, in reality, both sides will be looking to seat jurors who favor their side, i.e., either pro-Trump or anti-Trump. And both sides of course will be keenly interested in clues to the political and Trump leanings of the prospective jurors – in order to best utilize their challenges for cause and preemptory challenges.
In criminal trials, lawyers are provided with an unlimited number of “for cause” challenges. However, to strike a potential juror for cause, the party must make a sufficient showing that the potential juror cannot be fair and impartial. For example, it is not enough to make the bald assertion that the potential juror cannot be fair and impartial. Instead, the lawyer must point to specific answers provided by that potential juror during the jury selection process, including during the lawyer questioning and also in their responses to the jury questionnaires.
In addition, in criminal trials, the lawyers are also given a set and limited number of “preemptory challenges,” for which the attorney not required to provide any reason for striking and dismissing the potential juror. However, an attorney cannot strike a juror for discriminatory reasons, i.e., because of race.
Michael Leonard
Leonard Trial Lawyers
April 15, 2024