Gateway murder trial

The defense’s questions to the jury give a little insight into their strategy, although it’s really no surprise.

One of the questions he asked was whether or not the jurors believed DNA proved conclusively that someone committed a crime. (Evidence – Fred Cooper’s DNA was found under one of Michelle’s fingernails)

Second, he asked if anyone had gone up to someone and thought the person was someone they knew, but then it turned out it wasn’t the same person. Many jurors nodded their heads yes.

They were then asked about eyewitness testimony and whether it should be carefully analyzed to see if the person was accurate and if the person was lying or not.

Then he asked if a defendant didn’t testify, would that carry weight. And if the defendant did testify, would that testimony be held to a higher standard than other witnesses.

Then they were asked if they or someone close to them had been a victim of a crime.

Then the defense asked, If you found Cooper lied to the police, does that show he’s guilty?

Basically, the defense has several pieces of evidence to overcome, according to documents released during the discovery process, like eyewitness testimony that puts Cooper in gateway the morning of the murders, eyewitness testimony from someone who said Cooper asked for the gate code to the Andrews’ subdivision, and DNA under Michelle’s fingernail.

All issues addressed in the above questions…

Jurors have been given a questionnaire and they have to answer the questions out loud in open court. The questions include their occupation, their spouse’s occupation, their children’s occupations, if grown.

They are also asked if they have ever served on a jury, if so did they reach a verdict but the judge does not want to know what the verdict was.

Each juror is continuing to answer the questionnaire out loud.  Nothing that I’ve heard really stands out to me. Again, they’re just basic questions like where do you live, where did you live before that, are you married, what is your occupation, what is your spouse’s occupation, if your children are grown- what do they do, have you been seated to a jury and were you ever a witness  in a court case.

The jurors are out in the hallway waiting to come in. Fred is in the courtroom, but the judge is not yet.

The prosecutors just returned as well.

We should be getting started with the next phase of juror questioning any minute.

we’re recessing until 1:30…come back then!

It’s official. 36 jurors have made it through the questioning about pretrial publicity and the death penalty. We’re expecting the judge to come out any minute.

not much to post lately. The jurors are still doing the individual meetings with the judge. So far today about 19 have been dismissed. Looks like there’s a little over 40 still in the room. Some of the jurors get up and walk around so it’s hard to get a correct count.

If you have any questions about what’s going on in the courtroom or about the process, just post in comments…I seem to have a little time on my hands.

We’re done with those facing hardships, so the judge, defense and prosecuting attorneys have all gone back into the private jury room for individual questioning.

A total of fifteen jurors were dismissed this morning for hardships.

So far today a total of ten jurors have been dismissed, and four are still waiting to talk to the judge about their hardships. Again, we can’t really hear what’s being said, so there’s just a lot of waiting.

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So far a total of 42 jurors have been excused.