CENTENNIAL | Another 143 prospective jurors were released Wednesday in the Aurora theater shooting trial, bringing the total to 598 since jury selection started last week.
About 1,700 prospective jurors have reported for jury duty over the past seven days and about 1,500 could still land on the jury that will decide whether James Holmes was insane when he opened fire on Aurora movie theater in July 2012, killing 12 and wounding dozens more. Jury selection is expected to continue until May or June.
Judge Carlos Samour, Jr. said again Wednesday that he has been happy with the number of prospective jurors who have reported to court so far.
For Tuesday’s morning session, for example, he said 147 jurors reported out of only about 180 summonses delivered.
“I’m still encouraged by the numbers we are getting,” he said.
One of the jurors Wednesday morning was apparently concerned about their privacy should they be picked for duty.
The judge tells prospective jurors each session that the lawyers might research their online presence as they try to choose a jury and in a note to the judge, the juror asked if that meant lawyers would research their family as well. The juror also wondered if a sketch artist would be allowed to draw jurors.
Samour said that because the juror’s question wasn’t discovered until after they left, he would have to answer them when they return.
The jurors released Wednesday included several who didn’t speak any English. Samour has had a policy of releasing prospective jurors who don’t speak English, but asking jurors who speak some English to at least fill out the juror questionnaire.
Another juror said her husband died Jan. 8 and she was dealing with estate issues. The judge said she didn’t bring proof so she was not released.
A juror who appeared in court Wednesday said she was pregnant and due right around when opening arguments are expected to start in May or June. She asked to be released. The court said she could write that information in the hardship section of the questionnaire, but she was not immediately released.
Holmes sat quietly wearing a light-colored sweater during Wednesday’s session.
What BS, these petty judges thinking they are more important than folks’ lives.
We are not cattle. Jury is a choice, not our obligation.