Watching Law and Order disqualifies some jurors for Chuckie Taylor’s trial

The World Organization for Human Rights USA has started a blog posting summaries of daily proceedings in the trial of Chuckie Taylor in Miami. It can’t compare to the Trial of Charles Taylor blog, which (used to) post almost verbatim transcripts, but it’s better than following the trial through bi-weekly 600 word AP stories.

The blog is upated by 28 law students at the University of Miami and Florida International University.

Here’s an excerpt from the blog, talking about jury selection, that I found interesting:

Each side was given about 30 minutes to question jurors. The prosecution asked questions that appeared designed todetermine how popular American TV shows about crime and the law (like CSI and Law & Order) influenced their views about how trials work. Specifically, the prosecution wanted to know whether potential jurors would need to see physical evidence in order to find her case persuasive, or whether witness testimony could also be credible.

In addition, the prosecution asked questions whether potentialjurors had heard news reports about torture involving US military personnel and whether they thought it was wrong for the US government to be pressing charges against a person for torture committed abroad, while our own military personnelhave been accused of torture.

Counsel for the Mr. Taylor asked whether potential jurors could handle hearing graphic testimony about torture, whether theyhad friends or family who were in the military, and if they did, if those loved ones had ever been prisoners of war or were injured in armed conflict. Other defense questions focused on whether potential jurors had friends or family who had applied for political asylum, whether it was wrong for a US citizen to work for a foreign government, whether anyone had lived or spent time in Africa, and whether any had donated to human rights organization, such as Amnesty International or the International Red Cross. Finally, the defense asked if any potential juror would have difficulty following the instructions of the court not to conclude that Mr. Taylor was guilty of the charges if he chose not to testify in his defense.