Libby Trial Update -- we're finally at 36!

[Missy Vixen]

If you've been following the Libby trial voir dire on www.firedoglake.com, you'll be delighted to know that they just seated the 36th juror. Peremptory strikes are up in an hour.

Julie
still president for life of the PFEB

[H2O Man]

1. great news!

It's showtime!

[porphyrian]

2. I'll kick that. - n/t

[Annces]

3. Yey

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. About time

When do opening arguements start?

I want to be sure I have plenty of popcorn.

Thanks

[Missy Vixen]

12. Probably tomorrow morning

>When do opening arguements start?<

Court is in session as of 9:30 a.m. Eastern Monday-Thursday, so I'm imagining they'll get underway shortly afterwards.

We're still waiting for them to come back from lunch over on www.firedoglake.com. We haven't heard about the peremptory strikes as of yet. Evidently, there was a discussion before lunch about jury instructions.

Julie

[H2O Man]

13. Mr. Fitzgerald's opening statement

will compete with the Bush state of the onion address. Poor George.

[TahitiNut]

17. Will there be any broadcast (TV or radio) of Fitzgerald's opening statement?

I'd really like to listen to intonations and emphasis.

[H2O Man]

18. No, but there are

some good journalists and some very talented bloggers who will "translate" for us. I'll be interested to hear about both side's opening statements.

I'm assuming Teddy Wells will speak for the defense, when it is their turn. He is very good at what he does. I understand why a guilty person would want him defending them.

But the far more impressive part will be Mr. Fitzgerald. As DUers will recall from the press conference announcing the indictments, Patrick isn't "slick," like a couple of the guys on Team Libby. It's his "force of personality." And his uncanny ability to memorize a large number of facts, and to present them in a concise, organized, and rational manner.

[Missy Vixen]

19. TahitiNut, you can read live coverage via blog

at http://www.firedoglake.com.

They are already doing a masterful job on covering the voir dire; it's a psychologist, a former federal prosecutor and the author of the new book "Anatomy of Deceit" (describing the run-up to the Libby case,) this week.

I think you'll enjoy it. In the meantime, pass the popcorn. It should be a fun six weeks or so.

:popcorn:
Julie

[TahitiNut]

21. I have my popcorn ready. I still would like to hear intination and emphasis.

In college, I never relied on anyone else for notes. I'm just not good at getting impressions second-hand - even with 'professional' journalists. I've encountered far too much off-base second-hand 'knowledge' to be comfortable with relying on doing the same. If I had the time and resources, I'd probably enjoy getting in line for a seat in the courtroom in DC myself.

[janx]

20. WOW.

:rofl:

[Supersedeas]

27. The jury will want to know right away--"why are they there?"

[SpiralHawk]

51. Why? Because Bush & Cronies betrayed the United States of America

Treason in the White House, republicon toadies exposing the operatives who were defending America for their own, narrow, deviant republicon reasons.

[AndyA]

5. Pass the popcorn, this should be worth watching.

:popcorn:

I wonder how hard the White House is going to fight Fitzgerald? Everything will be top secret/classified/a matter of national security.

Right. Yeah, we believe that. This from the same people who told us Saddam had WMDs.

[Catherine Vincent]

6. 36?

Okay, somebody explain please. Aren't there 12 jurors and about 6 alternates? And also, is it a coincidence that most of the potential jurors called, the majoirty of them were white? At least that's what I was hearing on cable.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

7. It's a weird Federal procedure for selecting a jury

From the original pool, each side gets an unlimited number of challenges for cause, where they can object to jurors because of excessive bias. If no one challenges a particular potential juror, or if the challenges for cause are denied by the judge, then that juror becomes the next in line for the final 36.

Then, once the final 36 are selected, each side gets "peremptory challenges" where they can challenge a potential juror for any reason and the judge may not refuse the challenge (although race is not an acceptable factor). The government gets 8 peremptories, and the defense gets 10. So they start at potential juror #1, and if neither side uses a peremptory, that person is officially juror #1, and so on.

So if they make it all the way to #36, that person is automatically alternate juror #6, because both sides will have exhausted their challenges by then. However, if jurors #1-12 and alternates #1-6 are chosen before then, anyone left is dismissed.

As for the pool being mostly white, I heard that too, but I have no explanation -- while statistically unlikely, it is not impossible.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

9. Isn't it very likely indeed statistically?

What fraction of the pool of electors they're calling from are white?

[Geoff R. Casavant]

29. From what I heard on the radio this morning:

In DC, where the trial is being held, 60% of the population is African-American, but 80% of the jury pool was white, so statistically there are at least twice as many non-AfAm's in the pool as one would expect from a random sample.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

44. The odds of that happening given a random selection are about 1 in 20.

W ~ Bin(36,0.4)

Or approximately

W ~ N(36 x 0.4, 36 x 0.4 x 0.6)
~ N(14.4,8.6)

36 x 0.8 = 28.8

P(W > 28.8) = P( (W-14.4)/8.6 > (28.8-14.4)/8.6)
= P( Z > 1.67)

Where Z ~ N(0,1)

This is about 0.048, so the odds of that degree or more or whiteness arrising randomly are about 1 in in 20.

N.B. That's *not* the same claim as "the chance that this selection was random was 1/20", and doesn't a priori give you any information about what that probability is.

[Missy Vixen]

15. Geoff, thank you so much for the explanation n/t

[myrna minx]

22. Thank you for the explanation.

:hi: Pass the popcorn.

[H2O Man]

8. Things are good.

I think it is 12 and 4. It doesn't matter. Our friend only needs to strike 3 potential jurors, at the very most. Libby is going to be convicted on all counts if he goes to trial.

[Catherine Vincent]

11. This is one trial I wish was televised.

I can't believe the trial is finally starting.

[DoYouEverWonder]

37. Why do you think

Cheney is supposedly willing to testify?

This is the guy that won't even admit who came to his energy meetings. Isn't he taking a big risk going up against Fitzgerald?

[H2O Man]

40. Huge risk ....

for Cheney. Up until Judge Walton rejected the memory comic, er, expert, I do not think that Team Libby had planned to call Dick. But things changed. They needed something "big" to distract the jury. And when they realized Mr. Fitzgerald was not calling Cheney, they had to.

[antigop]

46. IF he goes to trial

IF.....

[Missy Vixen]

14. Cat_girl, they choose 36, or in this case, 37

Both sides get peremptory strikes, which means they get to exclude jurors without having to state a reason for it. The defense gets 10 and 2 alternates, the prosecution gets 4 and 2 alternates. They'll end up with 12 jurors and 4 alternates.

The judge has an unlimited amount of strikes, but I'm not sure if there will be additional ones or what. The additional delay is because the prosecution asked for criminal background checks on all jurors.

Julie

[blogslut]

10. kick

:)

[Missy Vixen]

16. Thanks, blogslut

Have I mentioned that I LOVE your username?

:hi:
Julie

[myrna minx]

23. I think that we're going to have to remind each other to breathe

during this trial. :hi: :popcorn:

[Missy Vixen]

25. LOL, Myrna Minx!

I'm already about to jump out of my skin, and we haven't even gotten to the opening arguments yet!

:scared:

In the meantime, it just wouldn't be a trial thread without our best wishes going out to this guy, would it?



The Rune of St. Patrick

At Tara to-day in this fateful hour
I place all Heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness
All these I place,
By God’s almighty help and grace,
Between myself and the forces of darkness.

Julie
still president for life of the PFEB

[myrna minx]

26. *Sigh* There's our dreamboat.

:loveya: *swoon*

[Robbien]

24. Thanks for the kick.

I missed the thread the first time around.

[Missy Vixen]

28. If anyone's interested in following along

The jury is being chosen at this very moment.

Live blogging: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/01/22/libby-liveblog-preemptory-challenges/#comments

Julie

[robertpaulsen]

30. Anyone know what happened to Juror No. 0677?

I've been looking through firedoglake (wow, there's a lot there!) but haven't found out yet.


Scooter Libby Trial - Watch Out For Juror No. 0677
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=3146507

[Missy Vixen]

32. We are unsure at this point

Pachacutec of firedoglake will probably be doing a wrap-up later.

Julie

[Missy Vixen]

31. We now have a seated jury

They are receiving instructions from the judge as we speak.

Julie

[Catherine Vincent]

33. LOL! Check this out at Firedoglake.com....

Trial starts tomorrow. Will do instructions tonight. Says he'll do it again, not to insult their intelligence, but to make sure they comply with the way the trial will be run.

Telling jurors not to talk to anyone about this.

"You can't start to decide anything about this case until everything has been presented to you."

{div class="excerpt"]Talks about the difficulty of changing your opinion once formed.

"You CANNOT have any discussions whatsoever about this case."

"You're not going to have that problem because you're not going out to lunch" Then assures them they will feed them. They get breakfast and lunch every day. Mmm. Free food.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now he's telling a story about a guy who talked about the case to his "precocious high school daughter." She kept telling him (since she was studying the jury system) that he couldn't talk about the case. Dad said he paid the mortgage and he could do what he wanted. Daughter said, "who's the judge." So she called up Walton and ratted Dad out.

Says NO contact with the media about this case. You can't have any contact with the media. "I assume there will be a certain amount of media coverage about the case."

They will be providing screened newspapers to the jury. Don't listen to the radio. Don't watch the news. Says they can watch Judge Judy.

[Catherine Vincent]

34. From firedoglake.com: Late thirties, white female, very giggly, is in.

I think I know why she's giggly....


:loveya:

[Missy Vixen]

35. I have been nowhere near Washington, DC!

Then again, I'm not in my late 30's, either...

:loveya:
Julie

[foreverdem]

47. Well, could you really blame her?

I'd be delirious.:loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[Annces]

36. schedule for tomorrow

Schedule for tomorrow:

9:30 - 10:30 Jury Instructions
10:30 to 11:30 Fitz' opening
12:00 to 1:00 Wells Part One
2:00 to 3:00 Wells Part Two


Jurors
9 Women
3 Men

10 Caucasion
2 African American

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/01/22/the-libby-jury-is-seated/#comments

[DoYouEverWonder]

38. Excellent

Just in time to screw up W's SOTU. I bet he's going to be very distracted and off his game tomorrow night. I can wait.

:popcorn:

[TahitiNut]

39. Nothing like having a "jury of your peers".

:eyes: The demographically lop-sided juries are really troubing to me.

[H2O Man]

41. It's not going

to be a problem. There is a lot of evidence that hasn't been made public yet. I'm confident that Mr. Fitzgerald is going to get convictions on all counts.

[Annces]

42. I think it is still okay because many of the jurors

have some math or logic ability which Fitzgerald wants.

[H2O Man]

43. Right.

Court rooms are not governed by the same laws of logic that the "real world" (or the "reel world") are. We need only look back to the discussions regarding Judge Walton a year ago. Many DUers were opposed to his hearing the case, because they were applying the logic of the real world. But, as a few DUers pointed out, we benefit from having a conservative judge in this case -- so long as he tries to follow the law.

The jury is fine. We are on track.

[DemReadingDU]

45. Let's Roll!

K&R

[Patsy Stone]

48. I can't wait for tomorrow!

Is it 10:30 yet?

K&R for Fitz!

[Missy Vixen]

49. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow...

You're only a day away... :woohoo:



Julie

[H2O Man]

50. Good Morning, Good Morning ....

Nothing to do to save his life call his wife in
Nothing to say but what a day how's your boy been
Nothing to do it's up to you
I've got nothing to say but it's O.K.
Good morning, good morning...
Going to work don't want to go feeling low down
Heading for home you start to roam then you're in town
Everybody knows there's nothing doing
Everything is closed it's like a ruin
Everyone you see is half asleep.
And you're on your own you're in the street
Good morning, good morning...
After a while you start to smile now you feel cool.
Then you decide to take a walk by the old school.
Nothing has changed it's still the same
I've got nothing to say but it's O.K.
Good morning, good morning...
People running round it's five o'clock.
Everywhere in town is getting dark.
Everyone you see is full of life.
It's time for tea and meet the wife.
Somebody needs to know the time, glad that I'm here.
Watching the skirts you start to flirt now you're in gear.
Go to a show you hope she goes.
I've got nothing to say but it's O.K.
Good morning, good morning...

(lyrics by John Lennon)

[Gregorian]

52. Watching!

It's like a holiday. I'm out in the shop, moving things onto the trailer. Getting ready to move. But the Libby trial is on my notes for the day.

Something tells me democracy lives. Justice, too.