The Denver Post
Potential Bryant jurors questioned behind closed doors
Monday, August 30, 2004 -
Eagle - A third of the 300 potential jurors who filled out questionnaires on Friday for the Kobe Bryant sex-assault trial have already been excused from serving on the jury, District Judge Terry Ruckriegle said announced today.
As 41 of those who survived the first cut waited in the hallway of the Eagle County courthouse today for closed-door individual questioning, an attorney for news organizations covering the case argued that jury selection should be open to the public to ensure a fair process. The questionnaire, released by the court today (and available through the Web link below), poses 82 questions ranging from personal information to the views of potential jurors toward professional athletes, interracial relationships and familiarity with the trial participants. Bryant, 26, is accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old hotel clerk in June 2003 at an upscale lodge near Edwards. The Los Angeles Lakers all-star admitted to committing adultery but said the liaison was consensual. In a hastily scheduled early morning hearing, media attorney Steve Zansberg contended that many of the juror questions, such as: "Have you ever been arrested or been the victim of a crime?" are routinely asked in open jury selection, and the answers don't warrant secrecy. The judge asked him how to question jurors in front of each other without the risk of "cross-contaminating" them by hearing each other's answers. "You think it's OK to have someone who has read something in the media ... and then state that in front of all the rest of the jurors so they hear that - even if they have not heard that before - and be tainted by that inaccurate information?" Ruckriegle asked. Zansberg, arguing that the need for openness is even more pronounced in high-profile cases where fairness might be in doubt, suggested that the jurors could still be questioned one at a time in open court rather than in the judge's chambers, or the questioning could be transmitted to another room.
Click here for the questions asked of potential jurors in the People v. Bryant case.
Click here for a 9NEWS video report on today's developments.
Click here for the official court website with officials court orders, filings and documents in the People v. Bryant case.
Click here to see a copy of the felony charges against Bryant in the PDF format. case.
Click here for a chronology of the Bryant case.
Click here for The Denver Post's graphic describing the events of June 30, 2003.
Click here for an interactive presentation on Bryant's career.
Click here for the 9NEWS archive on the case.
Click here for the CourtTV archive on the case.
Prosecutor Dana Easter and defense attorney Hal Haddon both opposed the effort to open the juror questioning, known by the legal term "voir dire" for fear of having a "chilling effect" on the candor of their answers. "There's a very real danger here that we will not be able to get a jury at all," Easter said. "If jurors really understand that he press was going to report what was actually going to happen to them, I don't think we'll be able to get anyone to serve." Haddon argued that it was "common sense" for jurors not to want to discuss their sexual experiences or views on race if they know they are going to be carried in the media. After recessing for about an hour, the judge returned and told the potential jurors and more than a dozen media representatives that attorneys for both sides would conduct individual questioning of jurors in private only on a small number of subjects not the majority of topics covered by the 82 questions they filled out Friday. The questions focus on: - Sexual assault. Jury Question 49 asks: "Have you or anyone close to you, including a child, ever been the victim of any form of sexual assault (this includes actual or attempted sexual assault or other unwanted sexual advances, including by a stranger, acquaintance or family member)?" - Racial prejudice. Jury Question 56 asks: "Have you ever been afraid of or had any negative experience with an African-American individual?" - The accuser. Jury Question 73 asks: "Have you or anyone you know had any contact with (the accuser), any member of her family, or any of her close friends?" - Pre-trial publicity. Potential jurors will be questioned about news coverage of the case they've seen if they indicated any potential bias in their written responses. The judge is afraid that the jury pool will be tainted if one potential juror describes media reports in front of others. - Any other areas that a potential juror considers sensitive and requests to talk about behind closed doors with the judge and lawyers. The judge said he reached the decision which areas the jury pool would be questioned about behind closed doors weighing the rights to a fair trial for both Bryant and the prosecution; the privacy of the jurors and the First Amendment rights of the media. Meanwhile, a new round of potential jurors who were called for an unrelated civil case that settled on Friday were added to the Bryant jury pool today. Although exactly 300 potential jurors answered summonses for the Bryant case on Friday, court officials decided that the new group could increase their chances of seating 12 jurors and two alternates. "They were already coming in, already summonsed to be here," said Karen Salaz, spokeswoman for the state court administrator's office. "The opportunity presented itself, so we to of it." The new potential jurors filled out the questionnaire and will be expected to return later in the week for individual questioning. In the hallway and the courtroom, potential jurors encountering Bryant for the first time seemed to pay little attention to the 6-foot-8 basketball star and his entourage of bodyguards and lawyers. Ruckriegle told potential jurors that under Colorado law their names will be made public if they are selected for the jury and he suggested they write their legislators if they don't like that. |