Day 4 of jury selection in the Casey Anthony case got going just after 8:30 am, on Thursday, but after three hours only one potential juror had been questioned.
Now into the second phase of inquiry, Juror # 1340, a husband and father, was asked numerous questions related to pre-trial publicity and the death penalty by the prosecution and defense attorneys.
But perhaps, an early insight into the defense’s strategy came from Ann Finnell when she questioned Juror # 1340 on what mitigating circumstances he would take into account when considering life without parole or the death penalty, if a guilty verdict is returned.
According to Fennell, various types of mitigating circumstances would be: Casey’s age at the time of the alleged crime, lack of maturity, lack of impulse control, history of sexual abuse, poor coping skills, decoy or pawn by parents and was a scapegoat, grades better than average in school, good detainee in jail, a good worker and more.
But the prosecution objected and a side bar was held.
Finnell cited case law, Morgan vs. Illinois, suggesting that jurors must have some sense of what mitigating circumstances are, when considering life without parole or the death penalty.
Chief Judge Belvin Perry, after reviewing the case said, both the prosecution and defense could question potential jurors about their background and character, but could not go into specific facts of the case. He said, potential jurors should not be asked a litany of questions, as he will be the one instructing jurors on the mitigating factors that could be considered.
Defense attorneys also asked questions like:
–Did you see the location of the child’s remains?
–Did you see pictures of Casey Anthony before coming to court?
–Are you disturbed by how the remains were found?
–Did you see any photos of Casey Anthony’s family?
–Do you know the individual who found Caylee’s remains?
–What TV programs do you watch? Do you watch Nancy Grace? 20/20? Court TV?
–You talked about not believing everything you hear in the media. Why?
–Do you believe in the death penalty? Have your views on the death penalty changed substantially over the last few years?
And so, it went on for more than three hours with Juror #1340.
Here are some of the questions, defense attorney Jose Baez asked:
–Have you ever been close to someone which doesn’t have a good support network and much family around?
–Is lying Ok?
–Why do you think some people lie?
–Do you think its important to look at why people lie?
–Have you had anything so bad happen to you that you never told anyone?
Juror # 1340 replied: “One thing did happen to me, but I never shared it.”
Defense attorney, Jose Baez: Why?
Juror # 1340 replied that in the end, it wasn’t so traumatic.
Perry before adjourning at 12:02 pm, reminded both the prosecution and defense attorneys of the purpose of jury selection.
Jury selection is about finding out whether a potential juror could follow the law and whether that individual is biased or prejudiced, based on their life experiences, Perry said.
“Jury selection is not and never was designed to pre-try a case or lay out various factual scenarios,” Perry said. “This applies both to the state and defense. Some of the questions have bordered on this.”
Perry warned that potential jurors should be asked only whether they could follow instructions. The law, he said, comes from the court.
“If you go too far, and I don’t like it, but I will interject,” Perry said.
All 37 potential jurors will be questioned on Thursday.
