Chapter 6: Selection of Jurors

On the third day of the trial, at two o'clock in the afternoon, inside the E.D.N.Y. courtroom.

The same prosecutor - Brooklyn found out upon receiving the indictment that his name was Coulson, Coulson Phil.

The same judge, Anna.

The same defendant's seat.

The difference is that behind him, countless media are present, holding cameras and microphones, excitedly broadcasting everything here in real-time to the entire nation.

To his right, there are 40 prospective jurors sitting in the jury box.[Note 1]

They will select 11 jury members from the 40 prospective jurors to form the jury and accompany this oak case to its conclusion. [Note 2]

Brooklyn is charged with first-degree murder, which carries the maximum penalty of death. According to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, both parties can conduct 20 peremptory challenges.

In Brooklyn's view, the selection of jurors is a disguised game of BP, in which both sides will try to choose people who are advantageous to themselves and exclude those who are not. At the same time, they will try to protect those who are not advantageous to the other side from being excluded. [TLN: I believe BP stands for base power]

At the announcement of the judge's assistant, everyone stood up, and Judge Anna entered in a black robe and announced that the selection of jurors had officially begun.

"Does anyone here have a firearm?"

Prosecutor Coulson took the lead in screening and asked in front of the jury box.

After a moment of silence, seven of the 40 prospective jurors, numbers 14, 22, 23, 31, 33, 39, and 40, raised their hands.

"The prosecution accepts these seven jurors."

Brooklyn did not object.

Selecting members with firearms is a basic choice. From a statistical point of view, people with firearms are more likely to hate crimes, which is a more advantageous choice for the prosecution. [Note 3]

But Brooklyn does not intend to argue about whether a crime was committed or not, because he did not commit a crime in the first place.

"Has anyone experienced harassment from a superior and fought back?"

Coulson continued to ask.

Numbers 1 and 5 hesitated for a moment before raising their hands.

"The prosecution accepts these two jurors."

After speaking, Coulson no longer made any selections and returned to his seat.

Brooklyn took a deep look at Coulson and slowly stood up, walking to the jury box.

The first question from Coulson does not affect Brooklyn, but the second one makes him suspect that the prosecution has other ideas.

He surveyed the jury with his gaze and asked, "Who among you is married or has been married before?"

Nearly half of the 40 jurors raised their hands.

"Who has their daily expenses within their marriage paid for by their spouse?"

Almost half of the people put their hands down.

"Your Honor, the defense requests that they be excluded," said the lawyer.

Judge Anna glanced at Coulson and nodded in agreement when he did not object.

Nearly 20 people left, and the jury was significantly reduced.

Brooklyn took out a candle and placed it in front of the jury box.

"Yesterday, when I went to buy candles, I had a slight disagreement with the store clerk. I wanted to buy a sandalwood-scented candle, but the clerk gave me this one instead."

Brooklyn played with the candle, sniffed it in front of his nose, and continued, "But I'm quite sure this is a vanilla-scented candle. However, the clerk insisted that it was sandalwood-scented. To find out for sure whether it was vanilla or sandalwood, I bought it."

"This morning, I asked several of my neighbors, and they were very sure that I was wrong, and it was indeed sandalwood-scented. I want to ask for your help in identifying what scent it really is."

With that, Brooklyn handed the candle to the lady in front of him.

She was a young woman wearing a vintage floral dress. She lowered her head slightly, her legs close together, her hands on her knees, anxiously clasping them.

When she made eye contact with Brooklyn, she quickly looked away. After taking the candle, she carefully sniffed it under her nose and whispered, "It...the clerk was right...it does seem to be sandalwood-scented."

Brooklyn continued to watch the woman, smiling politely. After getting her answer, he tilted his head slightly and signaled for her to pass the candle to the next person. He had been paying attention to her for some time.

She was a juror without a strong opinion of her own, easily swayed by the opinions of others.

Brooklyn deliberately chose her as the first to judge the scent of the candle, which did not actually contain any added flavor. He wanted to set a good example for the others.

The candle was passed back and forth among the jurors, and each person gave their answer after smelling it. When it was finally handed back to Brooklyn, as many as 13 of the remaining jurors gave the answer that it was sandalwood-scented.

Only 3 jurors gave a vanilla answer, while the remaining 7 looked puzzled and did not answer.

"The defense accepts jurors number 1, 9, 15, 22, 23, 31, and 40, and excludes all others," Brooklyn said to Judge Anna, as he put away the candle.

"The jury for case 017-EDNY10-071, State of New York v. Brooklyn Lee for first-degree murder will be composed of jurors number 1, 5, 9, 14, 15, 22, 23, 31, 33, 39, and 40. Jurors number 20 and 26 will be selected as alternates. Jurors number 2 through 38, thank you for your participation, and you may leave now."

Judge Anna announced the composition of the jury, seeing that neither the prosecution nor the defense had any further requests for juror selection.

Alternate jurors are backups in case a juror can not fulfill their duties during the trial.

Coulson's reaction was expected by Brooklyn. He had chosen jurors who had the ability to discern right from wrong and noticed that the scent of the candle did not match Brooklyn's description. Although they did not voice their doubts, they did not blindly follow the opinions of others, which is what the prosecutor needed in jurors.

Brooklyn had deeper intentions in selecting these jurors. When faced with information that contradicted common sense, they would not immediately draw conclusions but instead judge the new information rationally.

This would lay a solid foundation for Brooklyn's defense in the future, as these jurors would not immediately conclude that Brooklyn was guilty upon hearing the prosecution's evidence and testimony.

Coulson may have also seen Brooklyn's intentions, but this was an outcome that both sides could accept. If he insisted on opposing and continued to argue, Brooklyn would go all the way.

The remaining jurors quickly left, leaving only 11 members in the jury box, which immediately felt much more spacious.

The trial, as Brooklyn had anticipated, did not end with the selection of the jury but proceeded directly to the trial phase.

The trial phase is the storytelling phase, where both sides take turns presenting evidence, cross-examining the evidence, and constantly refining their own story until both sides have exhausted their evidence.

All the previous procedures were just appetizers; from now on, the case would officially move on to the main course.

Brooklyn sat alone in the defendant's seat, calmly watching as Coulson stood up and began to tell his "story."

At this point, the media had already noticed the unusualness of this trial, and they whispered among themselves, their conversations filling the courtroom with a hum of noise.

Anna, the judge, had to repeatedly strike her gavel and shout "Order in the court" to maintain courtroom decorum.

The reporters quickly quieted down, and Brooklyn listened to the murmurs behind him, finally allowing a genuine smile to cross his face.

.....

.....

Note:

1. The part of a courtroom with seating in an area that is enclosed, or boxed, around jurors during a jury trial. 

2. The rules for selecting jury members are detailed in Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which is too long to include here.

3. I have no idea where this damn data came from, but apparently, the statistics show that this is the case.