Another Juror was selected today for the Komisarjevsky trial. This latest juror. a woman, chosen by the defense, brings the total amount of Jurors selected to eleven, with four men and seven women comprising the "Jury" to be.
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Much like the Steven Hayes trial, (Joshua Komisarjevsky's accomplice in the Petit family assaults and murders,) this Jury selection process has been painfully slow, largely due to excessively cautious sizing up of potential jurors, done via individual questioning by the Defense attorneys and the Prosecutors for the state. The process which is sometimes done in groups of four, five or more in other states is painstakingly slower when carried out individually with the potential juror isolated from the other potential jurors. This is called " individual voire dire here in Connecticut, and has been the subject of debate among attorneys both civil and criminal for years for various, usually self serving, reasons.
Also a time consuming factor is the inordinate amount of " preemptive strikes that both sides, the defense and prosecution are allowed to use when an otherwise seemingly sound potential juror strikes them as someone who will not vote " their way" when deliberations begin. The state of Connecticut allows a total of 46 of these freebies for each side, but traditionally the defense uses many more than the State ie The prosecution.
Reportedly the komisarjevsky defense has used up 26 preemptive strikes, while the prosecution has used 20 thus far in the selection process.
There is no jury selection on Fridays due to an earlier motion by the defense that they needed more delays for the jury selection for komisarjevsky's trial, this after they had already been granted a sizable delay once.
Citing the fact that their public defender office had other cases and was too busy to attend 5 day week voire dire for this case, Judge Blue compromised with a four day week.
Jury selection will resume on Monday at New Haven Superior Court.
.
Much like the Steven Hayes trial, (Joshua Komisarjevsky's accomplice in the Petit family assaults and murders,) this Jury selection process has been painfully slow, largely due to excessively cautious sizing up of potential jurors, done via individual questioning by the Defense attorneys and the Prosecutors for the state. The process which is sometimes done in groups of four, five or more in other states is painstakingly slower when carried out individually with the potential juror isolated from the other potential jurors. This is called " individual voire dire here in Connecticut, and has been the subject of debate among attorneys both civil and criminal for years for various, usually self serving, reasons.
Also a time consuming factor is the inordinate amount of " preemptive strikes that both sides, the defense and prosecution are allowed to use when an otherwise seemingly sound potential juror strikes them as someone who will not vote " their way" when deliberations begin. The state of Connecticut allows a total of 46 of these freebies for each side, but traditionally the defense uses many more than the State ie The prosecution.
Reportedly the komisarjevsky defense has used up 26 preemptive strikes, while the prosecution has used 20 thus far in the selection process.
There is no jury selection on Fridays due to an earlier motion by the defense that they needed more delays for the jury selection for komisarjevsky's trial, this after they had already been granted a sizable delay once.
Citing the fact that their public defender office had other cases and was too busy to attend 5 day week voire dire for this case, Judge Blue compromised with a four day week.
Jury selection will resume on Monday at New Haven Superior Court.
