Today the legal teams in Speaker Mike Hubbard's ethics trial continued to process of narrowing down the men and women who will on the jury responsible for determining his guilt. Day two saw the list potential jurors decreased to almost 50.
Almost 60 potential jurors were interviewed individually all day Tuesday, May 17.
The process of jury selection began yesterday in Hubbard's case with a jury pool of at least 140. Almost 100 were available to begin the process of disqualifying and excusing potential members of the jury to determine who will actually serve on the jury.
Monday evening, Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker disqualified three potential jurors and more than a dozen more were excused by the court. By Tuesday morning, about 70 potential jurors were left in the jury pool.
For most of the day Monday, Walker and the two legal teams asked the jury pool general questions about their occupations, marital statuses and the occupations of their spouses.
Walker and the legal teams then used the answers to those questions to ask follow-up questions in a few individual interviews late Monday evening, but Tuesday saw dozens of individual interviews.
The state's prosecution team spent most of the day ensuring that each of the potential jurors were not biased against the state through what they may have read in the media. Deputy Attorney General John Gibbs probed the potential jurors about their knowledge of the case.
Gibbs asked many of the jurors if they had heard or read anything that would make them biased against the state.
Hubbard's attorney Bill Baxley, a former state prosecutor himself, questioned the jurors for the defense. More than half of the potential jurors said on Monday that they had negative perceptions of politicians.
Baxley asked almost all of the jurors interviews on Tuesday if they could fairly render a verdict for Hubbard, who he said "many would consider a politician."
"Mr. Hubbard would be considered a politician," Baxley told on potential juror who said they had a negative perception of politicians. "Do you think you could put that entirely out of your mind? ... Could you give Mr. Hubbard a fair trial?"
Many of the potential jurors said they weren't sure. Many of those jurors were disqualified.
On Tuesday, an additional nine potential jurors were disqualified by Walker for biases, conflicts of interest and fixed opinions. A total of 12 have been disqualified so far.
Both legal teams argued for Walker to disqualify potential jurors based on each individual juror's testified biases and conflicts. Monday and Tuesday saw the large potential jury pool narrowed through the process of eliminating jurors who couldn't render a fair verdict for both the state and Hubbard.
On Wednesday, the legal teams will begin the process of striking additional jurors they don't find favorable to their cases. In this stage, the attorneys won't have to state a reason why they want to strike the individual juror.
Walker said the process of jury selection will most likely continue through Wednesday afternoon before the legal teams can agree on a 12-member jury and the four additional alternate.
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