Trump's 1st criminal trial begins with huge challenge: finding 12 unbiased jurors
CBC
On most days, Bajia Reed teaches American history. On Monday morning, she felt like she was living it.
She showed up for jury duty outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, wondering if she'd be on the massive jury pool for Donald Trump's criminal trial.
It's the first criminal trial of a sitting or former U.S. president and may be the only such case heard before the November presidential election.
But there's a more immediate challenge: finding impartial jurors for a case involving a man who leaves few people indifferent.
"I think this is American political history," Reed said as she lined up on the sidewalk, just behind a row of scores of television cameras from outlets around the world.
"It is the moment to test what our founders really crafted in our founding documents. We need those to be true, and we need to hold him to every letter of the law."
The statistical odds are low of her making the final cut of 12 jurors, plus alternates. And that's not just because she was among hundreds at the courthouse Monday, or because of her teaching duties on the Upper East Side.
Another complicating factor? She has a clear opinion on the Trump case: "Oh, he's totally guilty."
Prospective jurors strained to get a glimpse of the famous defendant as they filed into the courtroom. One seated near the back giggled and put her hand to her mouth.
Of the first 96 potential jurors brought into the courtroom, more than 50 raised their hand to indicate they couldn't be partial in this trial.
Several dozen of Monday's candidates remain under consideration, but by day's end, none were officially seated; the process continues Tuesday.
A reporter heard one prospective juror, a young woman, leaving the courtroom saying, "I just couldn't do it."
There's also the unique challenge of this case, involving Trump's payments to a porn star paramour to keep her silent about their affair.
Trump is accused of committing 34 state felonies by paying Stormy Daniels to stay silent during the 2016 election, and hiding those payments, in violation of election-spending laws.
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