Jury Selection Process - Research Paper Example

The jury selection was interesting in the sense that it had 9 blacks, 1 Hispanic and 2 Whites in it, a total of 12 jury participants – 10 women and 2 men. Their education is divided; 9 were high school graduates, 2 College Graduates and one was without diploma. The jury sequestration is a highly complicated matter and requires considerable attention of the selecting bodies. For instance, the cost to tax payers for the jury sequestration in the O. J. Simpson trial reached a staggering $3 million (Dunham, 2009).

The process followed for the sequestration included a questionnaire to be filled in by 250 potential members of the jury (Linders, 2008). They were also told at the time of filling in the questionnaire that they will be probably sequestered for a period of several months. Once the jury sequestration was completed, the media became the real critic of the sequestration. The court had to bear the cost of it all, court premise security as well as the security of the jury is part of the sequestration.

Media constantly questioned the fairness and objectivity highlighting the fact the jury was held in a near imprisonment (Hayslett, 2008). In 1995, the jury let out the verdict while the court was surrounded by an army of policemen on horsebacks, to prevent a possible riot in the aftermath of the verdict. The jury recorded the verdict in favour of the former footballer, O. J. Simpson, as “not guilty”. The verdict may have been tainted by the involvement of the main prosecutor Fuhrman, who allegedly harboured hate feelings towards the African-Americans, and had been heard to call them ‘niggers’ on many occasions.

The main reason why the jury called it “not guilty” was there was reasonable doubt as to the presence of the suspect (O.J.) at the scene of the crime. Implicative reasoning was that O. J. was a patient of