A twelve member jury has been selected to try Michael Jackson's innocence or guilt in a court of law. Despite two set-backs to the jury convening, the selection process has raced to an end in a record time of five days. After the twelve jurors were sworn in, attorneys from both sides then proceeded to select eight alternate jurors to act as replacements.Selecting an unbiased and fair jury was considered a test in itself given the defendant, Michael Jackson's magnanimous popularity, the intense media coverage of the case and the charges Jackson faces.
During Wednesday's questioning session, an African-American woman quizzed the chances of Jackson receiving a fair trial.
"How can he get a fair trial anywhere when even the ex-sheriff of Santa Barbara county gets on TV and tells the world he is a child molester?" said the woman, a former corrections officer.
"A jury of your peers? How is this man going to get it here?" she said.
Now with a jury seated, the judge will have to decide on a numerous pending motions before the trial gets under way with opening arguments and witness testimony.
One of the many motions pending is by Jackson's defense counsel seeking permission from the judge to bring in past litigations by the accuser and his family where, the defense plans to challenge the family's credibility and portray them as "professional Plaintiffs".
It seems that the Michael Jackson trial is a trying time for the media as well. A host of media outlets are protesting against the $ 7,500 fee levied by the Santa Barbara court officials.
Media pool attorney Ted Boutrous in a letter sent to the Santa Barbara court official's claim that this fee is excessive and unconstitutional and asked that this fee be reduced or eliminated though Boutrous went on to say that these media outlets are "not asking for a free ride". Santa Barbara court officials justify the fees as necessary to recoup the costs of parking and extra security warranted by the incredible media presence the Jackson case has attracted.
Judge Melville's stringent restrictions have in a sense left the media in a situation desperate for any information or pictures. Inside the courtroom, the media have only seven reserved seats in which reporters rotate in and out of a planned schedule while other reporters are accommodated in an overflow room showing a closed-circuit feed of the trial on a single 36-inch RCA TV set.
Strategic camera positioning has proved imperative. Especially, good captures of the star defendant’s arrival before entering the courthouse. These camera positioning spaces come at a premium, that court officials have marked three-foot parcels assigning each media outlet their own little space.
Larger media organizations have flexed their muscles further. CNN has built a camera platform next to the Salvation Army soup kitchen across the street from the courthouse. NBC has erected a multi-story structure, dubbed "Peacock Tower," on an adjacent ball field. Fox, CBS and Court TV are building another tower of babble nearby.
Source: Washington Post/Santa Maria Times/AP/eMJey