'Unusual': Former prosecutor explains what stands out about Trump's jury selection
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner was struck by the "unusual" rapidity and method with which Judge Juan Merchan built out a jury in former President Donald Trump's criminal hush payment case in Manhattan — and in a newly released video, outlined what he believed it meant.
"We are knee-deep in jury selection in that New York courtroom in which Donald Trump is being tried in the first of his four criminal cases," he opened on his "Justice Matters" series.
So far, a number of jurors have already been seated, despite Trump's efforts to interrogate them heavily about their social media usage, which ultimately led to exasperation from the judge. The selection process has gone quickly, Kirschner noted, with Merchan weeding out 50 at the start with the simple question of whether they felt they could be fair — something he added that he's never seen before.
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Merchan, said Kirschner, is deviating from the norm because generally judges — including those he saw "over and over" when he worked as a prosecutor — don't instantly dismiss people who say they can't be fair and impartial, for example, in a homicide case involving a gun, where someone says they're too pro-gun or anti-gun to judge it fairly. Instead, these jurors usually get asked "follow-up questions" to "rehabilitate" them, he said. Merchan decided not to even try to do this, and spend "lots and lots of time" on them — which, Kirschner said, was a "wise choice."
What this means, he said, is that the jurors are getting qualified "really fast" — with seven jurors already confirmed, "regular people" in including two lawyers, who have all said they can be fair even to a former president.
Lawyers serving as jurors is also unusual, he said, because most prosecutors aren't comfortable with it because they don't want jurors who are "grading [their] performance." But Kirschner feels differently — "I generally like lawyers as jurors in my cases" because in his experience, lawyers on the jury can rein back in other jurors who are speculating about facts not in evidence and need to be reminded to follow the judge's instructions.
Ultimately, Kirschner said, "I like what I've seen" so far from the prosecution, from Judge Merchan, and from the jurors. "I have a good feeling."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
Judge Merchan's unusual jury selection process, and what it means for Trump's first criminal trial www.youtube.com