As of today, 17 potential jurors have been retained. Per Judge Perry, screening of jurors will continue this morning. Once that is complete, Judge Perry will allow each side to exercise back-strikes. If there are then at least 12 jurors remaining, he intends to swear in a panel of 12, as well as alternates (if there are still more than 12 retained). Any jurors lost through strikes will be replaced and sworn in one at a time. The parties may not exercise back-strikes against alternates.
Judge Perry's goal is to seat a total of 20 jurors (panel of 12 + 8 alternates); however, he has indicated he might go with fewer if they're unable to meet that goal. I wouldn't want to go with fewer than 5 alternates if I were he -- given the expected 8-week duration of the trial and the nuttiness surrounding this case, you can't be too cautious in ensuring you have enough jurors to go the distance.
If the jury selection finishes today, we could see opening arguments begin on Thursday. If they run into Wednesday, though, it looks like Friday would then be the first possible start day (it's reported the judge will give jurors a day off between swearing them in and the trial's start). Would the judge go ahead and start Friday or wait til Monday so there isn't an intervening weekend between openings and testimony? I'd guess the latter...but what do I know? ;-)
***A note about the Tweeting: Yesterday, I exceeded Twitter's status update limit. I didn't exceed the number allowed but apparently sent too many in quick succession. As a result, I couldn't Tweet for an hour or so. If I should go missing again at some point, look for @TrialNotesToo on Twitter. I'll temporarily switch to that account if it happens again. Thanks to all the great subscribers on Twitter who are so supportive -- you guys rock! :)
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