Jury selection continues in Warren Jeffs' case
 
By Patrice St. Germain
patrices@thespectrum.com
 
ST. GEORGE - The process of questioning potential jurors in the case against Warren Steed Jeffs began Monday in 5th District Court with nine people being deemed as qualified for the jury pool while more than 50 were excluded.

During the voir dire process, which is the questioning of prospective jurors by the judge and attorneys to determine if a person is biased or cannot deal with issues fairly, media representatives were allowed to sit in but were ordered by Judge James Shumate not to reveal what the questioning consisted of or the answers of perspective jurors.

Jeffs, 51, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which has the tenet of practicing polygamy, has been charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in arranging a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old first cousin in 2001.

Shumate's office was crowded during the process with three people from the prosecution, three attorneys who are representing Jeffs, a court clerk and recorder, three bailiffs, the potential juror and a media representative, along with Jeffs.

Wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and light tie, Jeffs sat in the corner listening to the potential jurors answer questions that expanded on several questions that appeared on the questionnaire the jurors answered Friday.

Nancy Volmer, Utah Courts public information officer, said 300 people were requested to answer the questionnaire. About 10 percent of those people were excused either through juror qualification or those requesting to be excused. Another 35 to 40 failed to show up.

Normally, during the voir dire process, Shumate doesn't allow the attorneys to ask the potential jurors questions. Volmer said it's the judge's discretion, and Shumate made the decision based on a Dan Jones poll that was completed several months ago asking people if they had a biased or preconceived idea of Jeffs' guilt or innocence.

Monday, out of the 74 people who were asked to appear in court, 45 were excused. Of the 29 remaining jurors, 16 went through the voir dire process, and seven of them were eliminated.

The remaining 13 people will go through the process this morning, and then another 50 jurors will be brought in to be questioned.

Once 28 people are found, the challenges will be conducted - a process by which the lawyers ask that a juror be excused. Some may be challenged for cause, where a lawyer claims that a juror might not be able to render an impartial verdict.

Shumate will grant or deny a challenge for cause. There is no limit to the number of challenges for cause a party can make, but there must be a reason for the challenge.

There are 14 reasons under the Rules of Criminal Procedure to remove a perspective juror for cause, and both the defense and prosecution teams have a limited number of peremptory challenges to remove a potential juror for no reason at all.

Once eight jurors and four alternate jurors are found, the Jeffs trial will begin and is expected to last for about seven days.

During the jury selection process, the main courtroom is being used as a waiting area for the perspective jurors.

If Jeffs is found guilty on the charges, he could be sentenced to five years to life for each count.

Both the prosecution and defense teams declined to comment on Monday's proceedings.

Members of the media, including The Spectrum & Daily News, will ask the judge this morning to reconsider the restrictions placed on them related to what happened and the questions asked in the judge's chambers.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published September 11, 2007
 
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