Jury Selection will be Critical in the Kim Potter Murder Trial
As both sides ramp up in the Kim Potter murder trial today in Minneapolis, an extraordinarily important part of the trial will be jury selection. According to the Court, the goal is to pick a fair and impartial jury. However, and let’s be clear, the goal of Kim Potter’s Defense team is find a jury to acquit and if you are the prosecutors, to convict. The lawyers have some general background information of the potential jurors and have been able to have them fill out a questionnaire. However, the only face to face contact they really get to talk back and forth is during this important stage of the trial. If you are facing a jury trial, make sure you have an experienced criminal defense attorney at your side.
In the Kim Potter case, both the Prosecution and the Defense get unlimited strikes “for cause.” This means that if a potential juror can’t be fair and impartial, you can “strike them” or get them off of the jury. This has already happened to a couple of potential jurors in this case. After that, the Defense gets five additional strikes while the Prosecution gets three. This is pretty standard in Minnesota cases although in the Chauvin case, the Defense had 15 strikes at their disposal.
One of the issues that both sides may be looking at is a question of race. While you can’t remove a juror for race, it may play a factor in strikes. In Hennepin County, 74% of the jury pool is white, 14% black, 7.5% Asian and 7% Latino. We will see how this plays out. If you strike a juror because of race, this is an inappropriate strike and the lawyer could face what is called a Batson challenge to justify their reasoning.
Jury selection is one of the most important parts of a jury trial. Getting the right people on a jury can make all of the difference in the outcome of a case, whether its the Kim Potter murder trial or any other. As a result, knowing where you are going, what the theme of your case is, and who will support it must be forefront in the minds of those lawyers during vior dire. Contact an experienced criminal defense attorney for more on why picking the right jury in your case is so important.
If you are facing serious criminal charges in Minnesota, it is critical that you sit down with an experienced criminal defense attorney. This is absolutely not the time to gamble on somebody who might be good one day or somebody who is learning on the job. Jack Rice, the founder of Jack Rice Defense, is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist, a former prosecutor and an experienced criminal defense attorney. Contact Jack rice Defense for a free confidential consultation or call 651-447-7650 or 612-227-1339.