Meltdown wins juror prospect a nix in Batman movie murders; juror axed in Hernandez case for chatter
Some prospective jurors want to serve in high-profile murder cases and others definitely do not.
A woman in the latter group was initially told Tuesday that she would have to return to court to complete a juror questionnaire in the Colorado movie-theater massacre case against James Holmes despite her claim that she could not find substitute child care for her unvaccinated grandson. But when the woman began sobbing, fell to her knees and began pulling out clumps of her hair, she was excused, reports the Aurora Sentinel.
An Associated Press article provides additional details about the progress of jury selection. A list of 9,000 prospective jurors was compiled for the trial, which concerns a dozen people shot to death at a Batman movie premiere in 2012.
Meanwhile, in a Massachusetts first-degree murder case against former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez, which is already at trial, the judge on Tuesday removed a juror after determining that she had discussed inadmissible evidence in the case long before being selected to serve on the panel, reports ESPN Boston.
The woman, apparently eager to serve, did not disclose on her juror questionnaire how many Patriots games she had attended, said Bristol County Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh. “Over the last few years, the juror has expressed an interest in serving on this particular jury.”
It is not clear how the juror’s pre-trial comments came to the court’s attention.
Hat tip: New York Daily News
