Court is scheduled to reconvene at 8:30 this morning for continued jury selection. There are still about 50 jurors to screen for hardship issues. Will update the blog as events unfold.
Jury screening continues. Judge checks with each juror to see whether they heeded his admonition to not watch media, discuss case.
Juror #1405 (male) Has physical condition that makes it difficult for him to sit for long periods of time. Brought a physician's note. Mason asks how long he's able to sit; juror says not long at all, has problems from car accident years ago. He is excused for hardship.
Juror #1361 (male) Says it would be no hardship on him to serve on jury. Mason asks juror whether he'll be paid during jury. Juror says he believes so. No medical issues, family obligations, other distractions. He is retained.
Juror #1346 (female) Is employed by hospice, cannot go 8 weeks without an income. Employer will not pay for that length of time. She's excused for hardship.
Juror #1001 (male) Student, will be registering for college next semester. Other than that, no hardship issues. He is retained.
Juror #1251 (female) Elementary teacher. School year ends June 9th. Has timeline to apply for early retirement by July 1st. Says it wouldn't be hardship to serve. Mason asks what's on her calendar next two months. She says nothing that she can think of. She is retained.
Juror #1281 (female) RN working in trauma unit. Says they're already very shorthanded. Employer will pay up to 8 hrs/day, but doesn't know how long they'll pay it. Says she can't survive 6-8 weeks w/o pay. Judge asks her to call employer to find out whether she'll be compensated. Retained for now.
Juror #1233 (male) Nurse for heart cath lab, only 1 of 4 in unit. Would leave unit scrambling. Also in 5th of 6th month for bariatric surgery approval. If misses any of process, has to start over again. Excused without objection.
Juror #1148 (female) She has lupus, enlarged thyroid, possible upcoming surgery. Excused for medical hardship.
Juror #1429 (female) Retired, so no financial or other hardship (is diabetic, but can be sure she has her medicine with her). Mason asks what's on her calendar next couple of months. She says nothing on calendar. No religious or other obligations. She is retained.
Juror #1439 (female) Currently working, enrolled in school and has 4 yr old daughter for whom she's sole caregiver. Excused for hardship.
Juror #1311 (male) Works in a family-owned business (Ace Hardware). His father ill, so he's taken over responsibilities. No one to help with his two dogs or business. Mason questions him about plans. Says he has a 1-week vacation planned, first in five years. He is not excused.
Juror #1440 (male) Runs group homes for abused children. Is on-call 24/7 dealing with crisis situations. Could be called anytime day/night to place children in foster care. Has manager going on leave soon and is scheduled to marry in a few weeks. Excused for hardship.
Juror #1188 (male) He has uncle in Puerto Rico who is dying. He wants to go see him. Also has bad nerves for which he takes medication. Excused.
Juror #1113 (female) Sole caregiver for disabled husband who needs daily care. Excused for cause.
Juror #1030 (male) He didn't understand what judge asked him. English not his first language (believe he said he's Vietnamese?). Excused for hardship due to language barrier.
Juror #1050 (male) Just started new job. Wife doesn't work. Daughter has rheumatoid arthritis. Would not suffer financially (employer will pay), but family would suffer. Reluctantly says he guesses he could serve. Judge says it sounds more like inconvenience than hardship. He's retained.
Juror #1432 (female) Single mother of two children. Has no one to watch kids and can't afford to lose any income. Employer will not compensate her. She's excused for hardship.
Juror #1119 (male) Says would not pose any sort of hardship for him to serve on jury. He's retained.
Juror #1025 (male) Chef at small company. Has two small children and a wife looking for work. Employer will pay him during service, though. No medical or other reasons he can't serve. Retained.
Juror #1246 (male) Is on disability, would have to hire someone to care for his dogs (seven of them). Mason objects to hardship, so judge retains juror.
Brief recess. Court will reconvene at 10:00. Twenty screenings in an hour, pretty impressive. Of those twenty jurors, ten were retained and will be recalled for second round of jury selection.
Court is back in session. Defense was complaining that their private conversations were being picked up by a mic and published online. Mics at counsel tables unplugged. (Pssst...learn to whisper.) Thanks, defense. Now we can't hear any attorneys when they address the court.
Juror #(didn't catch it) Juror made a list of all the exposure he's had to the case (newspapers, Nancy Grace, etc.). Used to have sciatica, but it's cleared up. Still difficult to sit sometimes, though. Systems analyst testing and implementing upgrade. Sounds like he's trying very hard not to serve. Judge asks him if he can set aside any opinion and focus on the law. Says he'd like to think he can. Now goes back to his employment. This guy just doesn't want to serve. Excused for equivocal responses regarding pretrial publicity.
Juror #1131 (female) Has travel plans that aren't refundable and can't be postponed. Says Casey reminds her of a niece with a lot of problems and that she's already prejudged Anthony's guilt. She thinks she is guilty. Excused.
Juror #1007 (female) Employer will pay, but she takes some medication for fibromyalgia that affect her memory. After some questioning, the court retains her.
Bringing Juror #1281 back in. She's the critical care RN who earlier this morning said she'd check with employer about payment during jury service. She has given the court a letter from her employer. If her manager approves her leave, they have to pay her, but her manager won't approve the paid leave since they're shorthanded. Juror says she can't make it financially without compensation. She's excused for hardship.
Juror #1207 (male) Has two young kids. Says he can't pay bills without his income and that his employer won't pay him during service. He's excused for financial hardship.
Juror #1426 (male) No hardship issues. Employer will pay during jury service. Juror is retained for second round.
Juror #1315 (male) He is an associate pastor, does a lot of social work. Has a lot of people who depend on him every week. Hasn't checked yet to see if someone else could cover for him since he was told not to discuss the case. No financial hardship for him, but many depend on him every day for spiritual support. May be stricken later, but retained for now, says the judge.
Juror #1257 (female) Single parent of 2 yr old. Can't afford to pay babysitter for that length of time (won't be compensated by employer). Excused for financial hardship.
Juror #1137 (male) Says financially responsible for his baby and employer won't pay. Also says his aunt was victim of homicide and he supports death penalty. Juror thinks he couldn't be fair and impartial because of that, that he'd favor the prosecution. Excused for cause.
Juror #1069 (male) Does not understand English extremely well (he's from Cambodia). Would not be paid if absent from work. Excused.
Juror #1366 (male) Claims financial hardship. Would not be paid by employer; could not pay his rent or bills. Excused for financial hardship.
Juror #1417 (female) Teacher, starting a new position in late June. Judge asks her to check to see if start of new position could be delayed with no adverse impact to her. Juror agrees to do that. No other hardships. Retained for now.
Juror #1034 (female) Works two jobs, has 2 kids in college. One employer will pay for 2-3 days, but not entire trial. She'd be out that income and would have hard time meeting obligations. Excused for financial hardship.
Juror #1375 (male) Anniversary trip with wife coming up. Enrolled in a class that begins in June. Trip is only a 4-day one. (He sounds extremely nervous.) The course is a prep class for LSAT. If he couldn't take the course, it would set him back a year, plus he'd lose deposit for course. Defense objects to his being excused (maybe they think he'll steer the panel away from emotion to focus only on law). I believe he was retained.
Juror #1159 (male) No hardship, employer would pay. Retained.
Juror #1358 (male) Single parent of 15 yr old daughter. His mother would help with her. Would receive only 3 days of pay from employer, which would cause severe financial hardship.
Juror #1329 (female) Son graduating June 8, plus employer would not compensate service. Excused for hardship.
Juror #1436 (male) Employer will not compensate for that length of jury service. Only two in his dept, would reduce company output by half. Would have to dip into savings and would cause hardship. Excused.
Juror #1301 (male) Has home and animals to take care of, but financially would not pose hardship. Says he's a worrier, "a bundle of nerves." Says he stays home all the time because he's a "chronic worrier" about spending money. Retained.
Juror #1237 (female) Single mother of teen son. Would be somewhat of a hardship; could do it, but would not feel comfortable leaving the teen home with her older son. Judge wants to excuse her, but Mason objects. She's retained.
Juror #1160 (female) Company will pay only 10 days of jury service. She's excused.
Juror #1305 (male) Says his life has been touched by crime in his home country of Colombia. Also says he's only income earner at home, cares for his mother and mother in law in Colombia and has a son in college. Says he'd try to be fair, despite crime against his family in past, but English may not be good enough. Judge excuses him.
Juror #1223 (last juror, female) In service industry. Most income is tips, employer won't compensate tips. Excused for financial hardship.
Ashton addresses the court about the air compound issue. He called FBI yesterday (something defense could have done, he says) and asked for compound list. FBI is providing to him and he will pass it on to Baez. But Baez isn't satisfied with that...wants full details of study, including which compounds were emitted at certain stages of decomp.
Judge asks Baez if he didn't have chance to ask Vass in his depo about which compounds were released at which times. Baez says Vass refused to answer that. Judge says show him where in the depo, page and line, Vass refused to answer. Judge reminds that failure to ask a question is not the same as Vass refusing to answer. Baez agrees to find it and show to judge later.
Lunch recess til 1:30 EDT. By my count, 42 jurors were screened for hardship today, with 18 being retained. That would bring the grand total to 107 screened (including the one who was dismissed in the jury room by a local chief judge yesterday), with 38 being retained (one juror from yesterday reported back that employer wouldn't pay, so she moves from retained to excused column.
A few other jurors from both yesterday and today were ordered by the court to check with employers about pay, then get back to the court. They were retained for time being but could still be stricken based on financial hardship.
It is being reported on In Session's air that 50 additional jurors are being brought in for hardship screening after the lunch break.
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