Quick Pick: Jackson's Jury Chosen

By Steve Chawkins

Feb. 24, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SANTA MARIA, Calif. —

After just three days of questioning, a jury was selected Wednesday in Michael Jackson’s child-molestation trial.

No African Americans are on the jury that will weigh the fate of one of the world’s most celebrated African Americans. The panel does include two members who have had family members involved in sex crimes, either as victims or perpetrators.

For what prosecutors have envisioned as perhaps “the most covered trial of our lifetimes,” the relative speed of jury picking was an almost anticlimactic start. Lawyers in the case had forecast the selection taking as long as one month.

But on Wednesday at 11:25 a.m., Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville solemnly announced: “We have a jury.” After two weeks of delays, attorneys on both sides had examined only about 50 prospective jurors before arriving at a panel.

Selection of eight alternate jurors proceeded Wednesday afternoon and is expected to wrap up in the next day or two. Hearings on pretrial motions will probably take another couple of days, with opening statements coming as soon as next week.

The jury consists of eight women and four men, with ages ranging from 20 to 79. Eight members are parents. One juror is of Asian extraction, three are Latinos and seven are white. The race of the other juror is not known.

Less than 3% of northern Santa Barbara County’s population is black, but the lack of blacks in the courtroom upset an outspoken prospective juror who is African American herself.

“How is this man going to get a jury of his peers?” she asked prosecutor Ron Zonen. “Just look around us; how diverse is this jury?”

Despite the area’s racial makeup, Jackson, 46, never asked for a change of venue, saying Santa Maria was his home.

The woman, a former nurse at a state prison, was booted out of the jury pool by the prosecution. She revealed that she thought the county sheriff’s office was inept in suspending her husband, a longtime officer at the Santa Barbara County jail, for allegedly sleeping on the job. She also lashed out at former Sheriff Jim Thomas, now a commentator on the Jackson case for cable network MSNBC, for a broadcast in which he expressed his belief in Jackson’s guilt.

Reporters in the courtroom said Jackson appeared exasperated and held his head in his hand when the woman was dismissed.

Attorneys on each side were limited to 10 minutes of questioning for each juror. One of the few common beliefs that emerged loud and clear was an almost universal distrust of the media. Most of the jurors said they weren’t regular consumers of news and had only a fleeting knowledge of the Jackson case.

Even so, they were quick to oblige defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. when he asked how they felt about tabloid TV shows and “so-called experts.”

With the defense saying Jackson has been victimized by heartless reporters, prosecutors countered by asking jurors whether they’d be overly influenced by the testimony of celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Kobe Bryant. Nobody said they would be.

Prospective jurors were also asked by the defense whether they or people close to them had an interest in the arts. Their theory was that creative types would have a rapport with their famous client.

The jury prospects who made the final cut are:

* A 79-year-old great-grandmother with an imposing presence and a firm, loud voice. One of the few jurors who seemed to relish the limelight, she offered answers to questions that weren’t asked, and let the court know that she’s an old-movie buff and “a Jeopardy freak,” and that I. Magnin no longer carries her favorite perfume. She said she enjoyed watching her grandchildren trying to emulate Jackson’s trademark “moonwalk.”

The woman was hesitant, but ultimately no less forthcoming, about a close relative who was convicted of a sex crime. She said the episode was “an education” for her and her family, and ended up being positive, despite the man’s listing as a registered sex offender.

Questioned by Mesereau, she bristled at his use of the word “assumption.”

“Sir, I don’t automatically assume anything about anybody,” she said.

* A 42-year-old woman who said that even with sexual abuse in her own family, she could be “totally open to both sides.”

An aide in special education classes, the woman unflinchingly chronicled several painful experiences. She said a niece came to live in her home and eventually revealed that she had been molested by her father, the juror’s brother-in-law. Despite the woman’s calls to authorities, nothing was done. The man is now in a Florida prison on a similar charge, she said.

In addition, she said, her sister was raped at age 12, but never disclosed it until she was in her 30s. A Detroit native, the mother of four children, ranging in age from 4 to 20, said she joined the military at 17 and stayed for six years.

* A 21-year-old man who uses a wheelchair and has a sly, self-deprecating sense of humor. Sporting a fringe beard, he said that children liked him because “they’re taller than I am.” He said he enjoyed showing off his 3-year-old nephew: “It’s like having a ‘mini-me’ around,” he said.

An auto-racing fan, he said he hopes to become a journalist specializing in motor sports. Accounts of races would tend to be more accurate than other forms of journalism, he said, because “you can see something that’s happening on the track.”

The man said he was angered by another disabled person who has sued hundreds of restaurants for damages related to inflated claims of poor access. He said the claims made all people in wheelchairs look bad.

The man said he was at Jackson’s Neverland ranch in the sixth grade with a cerebral palsy group.

* A 63-year-old retired school counselor who does bronze castings of Western sculptures.

“It started out as therapy, but then I got really involved,” he said.

Asked whether he trusts the government, he said he does, but questions “things like our involvement in Iraq and Vietnam.”

An avid horseman, he goes on trail rides with a good friend who practices law. But he doesn’t discuss legal matters with him and doesn’t watch a lot of news.

“If it has something to do with country-western, then I’m interested,” he said.

* A 62-year-old white-haired civil engineer with a thick gray mustache. The father of four grown children, he said he sometimes attends a local melodrama with his wife, and sees plays at Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria.

About the media, he said: “Sometimes the public has a tendency to believe what it hears and sees rather than sorting it out in their own minds.” Asked whether he had seen an interview of Jackson by Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, the man said: “I try to avoid Geraldo.”

* A 39-year-old clerk who works in the human resources department of a government agency. The woman, who appears Asian and speaks with traces of an accent, said on questioning that “it’s easier to get the truth” from a lying child than a lying adult. The claim that a child has lied about being molested is at the heart of the defense case.

The woman said she gets most of her news from the Fox network and is a fan of Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly.

* A 20-year-old man who described himself on his jury questionnaire as an “assistant head cashier.” Soft-spoken, he answered a number of questions yes or no without elaborating much.

He was skeptical about the media in general, saying he preferred “The Simpsons” to the news.

The man said his sister and her boyfriend had visited Neverland a few years ago but didn’t tell him much about it.

* A 44-year-old woman who works as a supervisor in a government social services agency. Divorced, she said she’s on good terms with her ex-husband, a Santa Maria police officer. In addition, her best friend is a police detective in San Luis Obispo. She said her relationships with people in law enforcement would not affect her ability to weigh police testimony independently.

As for child witnesses, she said: “I’d be cautious. I’d scrutinize that testimony a bit more.”

* A 51-year-old computer programmer and systems analyst who enjoys theoretical math. A former high school math teacher, she was married to a university researcher who specializes in the part of the brain that deals with speech.

The mother of two teenagers said she never follows sensational cases, but worries about saturation media coverage.

“The system can still be fair,” she told Mesereau, “but it just makes it harder to find jurors.”

* A 45-year-old woman whose three children, ages 14 to 26, live in Texas. The woman said she works at a supermarket and sold radio advertising for about a year.

She has worked at restaurants as a server and enjoys cooking. “All my creative stuff is around food,” she said.

The woman said she never pays attention to media reports about celebrities.

“I just kind of blow it off,” she said.

* A 22-year-old woman who lives with her boyfriend and works as a physical therapy aide in a nursing home. She said she wasn’t a big fan of Jackson’s music and hadn’t followed his career.

“It’s a little before my time,” she said.

* A 50-year-old woman who has been a horse trainer for 33 years.

Giving thoughtful answers to most questions, she said she could overlook the influence of celebrity, just as she does when she judges well-known riders at horse shows. Skeptical about media accuracy, she said she was the subject of many inaccurate stories when she was an Olympics hopeful.

“Information given is as good as the integrity of the person giving it,” she said.

Asked whether she has faith that the court system can overcome media overkill, she said: “I have faith that I can.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Jackson jurors

The 12 Santa Barbara County residents impaneled in the Michael Jackson molestation case are diverse in age and personal experience, according to an analysis of their questionnaires.

Race

Whites - 7

Latinos - 3

Asian - 1

Unknown - 1

Gender

Female -- 8

Male -- 4

Age group

20s - 3

30s - 1

40s - 3