By LARRY NEUMEISTER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — When the first group of potential jurors was brought in for Donald Trump’s criminal trial this week, all the lawyers had to go on to size them up at first were their names and the answers they gave in court to a set of screening questions.
Then the lawyers began to search thoroughly through social media to find posts that could show hidden biases or extreme views of people in the jury pool., examining social media for content that might uncover any potential biases or strong opinions among the jury pool.
One potential juror was dismissed by the judge after the Republican former president’s lawyers found a 2017 online post about Trump that said “Lock him up!” Trump’s lawyers rejected another potential juror after discovering she had posted a video of New Yorkers celebrating Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election win.
Both sides are striving to ensure they have a fair jury that might lean towards their favor.
Even experts in the art of jury selection say there are limits to what any lawyer can do.
“We never pick a jury. We unpick jurors,” said Tama Kudman, a veteran West Palm Beach, Florida, criminal defense lawyer who also practices in New Jersey and New York.
“We never get who we want. We are just careful to get rid of who we think are dangerous to our clients,” she said. “You know you’ve picked a good jury when nobody’s happy. The prosecution hasn’t gotten who they want. The defense hasn’t gotten who they want. But everybody’s kind of gotten rid of the people who really raise the hair on the back of our neck.”
Jury selection resumed Thursday in a trial over allegations that Trump falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal during his 2016 campaign. Ultimately, 12 jurors will determine the verdict, with six alternates on standby.
Nearly 200 potential jurors have been brought in. All potential jurors will be asked whether they can serve and be fair and impartial. Those who have said “no” have been sent home.
Lawyers on both sides then comb through answers prospective jurors provide orally in court to a set of 42 questions that probe whether they have been part of various extremist groups, have attended pro- or anti-Trump rallies, or have been involved with Trump’s political campaigns, among other things.
The judge can dismiss people who don’t seem likely to be impartial. Under state law, each side also gets to strike up to 10 potential jurors they don’t like, plus some additional strikes for potential alternate jurors.
Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, a jury consultant who worked on the O.J. Simpson trial team in the mid-1990s and remains employed in that capacity today, said a social media check has become critical in recent years. She likened it to a “juror polygraph” that can reveal whether a potential juror’s answers to questions in court are false.
Still, Dimitrius said, such checks aren’t foolproof. Potential jurors can scrub their online footprints before they show up or make their social media accounts private.
A jury consultant has helped Trump’s lawyers research the backgrounds of prospective jurors whose names are provided to lawyers on both sides, but not to the public.
Some individuals who were considered but not chosen for Trump’s jury had concerning content on their social media. This included sharing posts that criticized him, including a meme depicting Trump being beheaded.
Each person was brought into the courtroom individually to verify that the posts were indeed on their account or were posted by them— and in one instance, by their spouse. They were also asked once more about their opinions of Trump and if they could remain impartial.
A bookseller who had previously refused to disclose his feelings about the former president admitted to having a “strongly negative overall impression” of him after being confronted with a series of Facebook posts, including a video mocking Trump.
In that situation, the judge agreed with Trump’s lawyers that the potential juror should be dismissed for valid reasons. However, in other cases, Judge Juan M. Merchan stated that the posts did not reach that threshold, making Trump’s lawyers use their limited number of challenges to have the potential jurors removed.
Merchan informed Trump’s lawyers, “The issue is not whether someone aligns with your client politically, but whether they can be fair and impartial.”
The process caused Trump, the presumed Republican nominee in this year’s presidential race, to comment in a Wednesday Truth Social post that he believed challenges were meant to be unlimited, not restricted to 10, “as the Witch Hunt continues! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
Among six individuals removed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office was a prosecutor who works for the district attorney in the Bronx and a man who works in real estate and mentioned reading Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.”
Arguably the most memorable was a former correction officer who stated he may have previously served on a jury for a case involving Trump and Merv Griffin. He was dismissed by prosecutors after admitting that he appreciated Trump’s style of humor.
This individual had also expressed reservations about Trump, mentioning that he had known relatives of the wrongly accused teenagers in the Central Park Five case— a group that Trump famously said should face the death penalty.
Sabrina Shroff, a criminal defense attorney, described the jury selection process as one of the “most stressful and fun” aspects of any trial.
“It’s like arranging a blind date with 12 people and hoping that the blind date blossoms into at least a friendship in the end. It’s a complete gamble,” she expressed.
Shroff stated that she relies on her instincts when selecting jurors. Assessing social media profiles, she noted, can be difficult because what people share online “isn’t necessarily a true reflection of who they are.”
“Maybe their affiliations provide some clues,” she commented. “You’re still making an educated guess. We often make incorrect judgments. Sometimes, you genuinely believe the juror was in your corner, only to discover that they were advocating for a conviction.”
Shroff added, “You’re always concerned that you may have misinterpreted the scowl or the smile. Maybe they’re not smiling at you, but rather thinking about a movie they watched and enjoyed.”
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