Potential Jurors Eliminated From Anthony Trial
CLEARWATER, Fla. (CBS4) -- Half-a dozen potential jurors were dismissed Friday from the pool of prospective jury panelists in the trial of a Florida mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter.
A woman was released after saying she was unsure if she could set aside her opinion that Casey Anthony is guilty. A man was disqualified after saying he couldn't consider Anthony's young age as a mitigating factor if he had to consider a sentence and another man was dismissed after raising doubts that he could render a fair verdict. A man and a woman were excused for hardship reasons.
Anthony's defense attorneys exercised their right to a peremptory challenge on a sixth potential juror. It was the first such challenge since jury selection began five days ago.
Their target was Juror No. 1011, a rock `n roll memorabilia collector who had worked as a groundskeeper for local colleges. The potential juror was arrested for a DUI in 2006 but had failed to mention the arrest on a jury form that asked about his criminal history.
"I didn't know if that made me a criminal or not," the potential juror said. "Am I criminal under that?"
Defense attorney Jose Baez said the oversight suggested a lack of truthfulness by the potential juror. Circuit Judge Belvin Perry refused defense attorneys' request to dismiss the juror for cause, saying that could only be done because of bias, prejudice, not understanding English or because of a previous experience that made it difficult to render an impartial decision.
The defense then opted to use one of their limited number of peremptory challenges to dismiss the man, anyway.
The 25-year-old Anthony is charged with killing daughter Caylee in 2008. She has pleaded not guilty and says a baby sitter kidnapped Caylee. Jury selection was moved out of Orlando, where the trial will take place, because of pretrial publicity. The jurors from Pinellas County on Florida's Gulf Coast will be sequestered in Orlando during the length of the trial.
Perry wants to seat 12 jurors and eight alternates before opening arguments begin Tuesday. So far, the judge has asked eight potential jurors to return for further questioning on Saturday. They include a nurse, a man who works in insurance, a counselor, a newspaper circulation manager, a shift manager, a nursing student and a computer consultant.
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