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The trial of the December 25, 2009 airline bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has gone tough and could as well become a potential issue in jury selection as his legal adviser on Wednesday threatened to challenge the prosecutors if they try to dismiss the only black male prospective juror in the pool without a genuine reason.
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The developments Wednesday came as seven more people were added to the jury pool in the terror trial in the second full day of selection. The black male prospective juror is a retired packing plant supervisor.
So far, there are 20 women and seven men in the pool. They have been questioned by Abdulmutallab’s legal adviser, Anthony Chambers, federal prosecutors and United States District Judge Nancy Edmunds about their knowledge of the case, views toward Muslims and fears of serving in a terror case.
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One of the prospective jurors, a female, is from Nigeria. She said she does not know Abdumutallab or his family. The woman, an official with a Nigerian cultural group in Metro Detroit, said she was embarrassed to learn the suspect in the alleged attack was from Nigeria.
The juror pool stands inches closer to creating a group of 37-to-45 prospective jurors in the high-profile case.?
Five people were excused from jury duty on Wednesday for reasons including bias against Abdulmutallab, scheduling conflicts and transportation issues.
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Once jury selection started Tuesday, lawyers and the judge created a prospective jury pool of 16 women and four men. That followed about seven hours of questioning that focused on their beliefs about the case and on a range of topics, including Muslims and the 2001 attacks.
The goal is to get 37 – 45 potential jurors before the government and defense can start dismissing jurors without cause. Selection resumes at 9 a.m. today and concludes when there are 12 jurors and four alternates.
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The proceedings revealed several prospective jurors had concluded Abdulmutallab was guilty, held biases against Muslims and were anxious about possibly serving on a jury in a terrorism case.
One prospective juror, who works as a secretary in the human resources field, said she was concerned about retaliation from terrorists “waiting in the wings outside the courthouse.” She survived the cut and will be brought back Thursday for more questioning.
Edmunds excused seven would-be jurors, including a computer-aided designer who needs to care for his wife, a woman diagnosed with a mental illness, a former law-enforcement officer who said he was biased against Abdulmutallab and a volunteer firefighter who said he could not be fair because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
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The pool included retirees and blue- and white-collar workers, including an engineer, a teaching assistant, a bill collector, a college student, an Irish pub kitchen manager, a caregiver, a housekeeper, a nurse’s aide, a computer business analyst and a personal trainer.
Abdulmutallab, 24, took a largely passive role in his defence, letting legal adviser Anthony Chambers handle questioning of all but one prospective juror.
Meanwhile, Abdulmutallab who is expected to make an opening statement to jurors October had earlier complained about his clothes, saying he wanted a Yemeni belt and a dagger, but left the courtroom and changed out of an oversize white T-shirt into a khaki-colored tunic and a black blazer.
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