Two hundred Los Angeles residents were called to court yesterday for the first day of jury selection in the trial of Officer Johannes Mehserle. The former BART police officer has been charged with second degree murder for allegedly shooting an African American man on January 1, 2009 at the Fruitvale BART station.
The shooting has been marked as a high profile case and has turned into a very heated issue all over California. Criminal defense attorneys for Johannes Mehserle had the trial moved from Alameda County because they said the defendant would not receive a fair trial in the Bay Area.
The Oakland Tribune reports that approximately half of the 200 people called to court said that they could not serve on the jury because they had some kind of hardship that would prevent them from attending court every day for a month. Almost all the residents who claimed any kind of hardship were excused from the trial.
The remaining potential jurors were questioned by prosecutors and Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys and were also asked to fill out a questionnaire. FindLaw states that with any criminal case, both the defense and prosecution are able to exclude a certain number of jurors who they feel cannot be truly objective in deciding the case. Both sides are also given a limited number of peremptory challenges, which means that jurors can be dismissed without a particular reason. With this case, there will be 12 jury members chosen and six alternates.
The Huffington Post listed some of questions potential jurors were asked on the 14 page written questionnaire. Here are just some of the questions:
- How often do you watch TV?
- Do you consider yourself an expert on any subject?
- How familiar are you with the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland?
- Do police officers lie?
- Have you ever seen a police officer act inappropriately?
- Would you like to serve on this jury? Why?
For more information, please visit our Related Resources.
Related Resources:
- Johannes Mehserle's Trial Comes to Los Angeles (FindLaw's Los Angeles Criminal Law Blog)
- See a Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney (FindLaw)
- What if I am Called for Jury Duty? (FindLaw)
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