The search for jurors for the long awaited Phil Spector murder trial is set to begin today. As much reported, Spector is accused of shooting dead actress Lana Clarkson at his Beverly Hills home on 3 Feb 2003. He claims she shot herself.
Although the trial is set to be televised, the jury selection process will not be. A group of up to 300 is expected to be interviewed from which it is hoped a jury acceptable to the prosecution, defence and Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler can be acquired. The fear in high profile cases like this of course is that many potential jurors will be overly influenced one way or another before the trial commences. The fact the case may run for over three months also rules out many candidates who simply cannot afford to take that long out of their normal lives - some potential jurors are already believed to have been excused on those grounds, and some of the 300 who remain are expected to claim they cannot afford to serve as a juror on this case.
Juror interviews will take place today and tomorrow after which lawyers for both sides will have a month to consider whether any potential jurors are, in their opinion, inappropriate. With the exception of a pre-trial hearing on 9 Apr, that means there will be no further developments in the case until 16 Apr when final jury selection will commence. The current schedule hopes to have a jury in place to hear opening remarks from both sides on 30 Apr.