Jury Seated, Former Dallas Cowboy Trial Starts Monday
DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - After two days of questions, a jury is seated for the Josh Brent intoxication manslaughter trial.
The ten women and two men, plus one alternate, were selected by attorneys from a pool of 120.
The prosecutors doubled the size of the jury pool, given the high profile nature of the case.
For hours on Friday, both Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Jason Hermus and Defense Attorney George Milner interviewed the potential jurors, listening not only to their answers, but their reactions and body language.
When the trial begins Monday, the twelve jurors will decide not only if Brent is innocent or guilty of intoxication manslaughter, but if he is found guilty, what kind punishment he will receive.
Brent faces anywhere from two years in prison with probation to twenty years in prison for the crash that happened in December 12.
When Hermus asked the potential jurors for a show of hands, eight people raised their hands and told him they could not possibly give the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
"That's why we ask the questions that we ask. For those people who are sitting there who haven't been candid with the court, we want to ask questions that are going to illicit those responses to get to the truth because at the end of the day we want 12 jurors who are going to be fair and impartial," said lead prosecutor Heath Harris.
Thursday, several people were excused from jury duty because they said they'd already made up their minds on Brent's guilt or innocence.
But there were no questions Friday from either side on what the jury pool thought about the fact that Brent is a former football player.
Defense attorney George Milner says he was confident that they'd be able to eliminate bias when they seated a jury.
"I've been doing this for 20 yeas. I'm going to trust my judgement on heist they say and how they say it," Milner said.
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