The jury selection process went quick for Paul Bergrin.
Paul Bergrin's court allowed less than
three days for jury selection in an extremely complex case. George
Zimmerman's court has allowed nine days and a jury was finally sworn
in at the conclusion of the ninth day. The Zimmerman case is simple
in comparison and with much less evidence admitted and many fewer
testifying witnesses. There is also only one count charged.
Everything about the Bergrin trial was
rushed and the defendant stifled in his questioning of witnesses to
the point that he anticipated being told to hurry, hurry, hurry with
each witness. If you have read the transcripts from this trial, then
you're aware of how rushed Paul Bergrin was at every turn.
What you do not know is that after the
slow trip from Newark back to Brooklyn every day, Bergrin was often
left sitting in the vehicle for some time. By the time he made it
back to his bed to sleep, he would have 4-5 hours at most before he
had to do it all over again. Of course Bergrin was his own defense
counsel to add to his limitations. How much time do you believe he
had to prepare for the next day in court?
I have no clue how anyone else is, but
if I do not have 8 hours sleep, I'm not all there. If I have 4 hours
sleep, I'm almost non-functioning. You may recall the one juror that
spoke to the news after the trial (Tad Hershorn). He described
Bergrin in the last paragraph:
Now if you read the first 22 pages of
the first day trial transcript, it's clear how USDJ Dennis Cavanaugh
ran jury selection. Mr. Hershorn tried to get off of the jury and
even brought a doctor's letter to the court, but the judge refused
him:
BERGRIN 1 01_22_13 (link removed - contact me privately for a copy)
In Florida there are only six jurors
unless it is a capital case, which the Zimmerman trial is not. There
are twelve in a capital case. There are twelve jurors in a federal
trial. The number of alternate jurors would be at the judge's
discretion and is dependent on various factors. In the Zimmerman
trial there will be four alternates and in Bergrin's trial there were
six.
Before 3pm on day three of jury
selection in Bergrin's trial there were 18 jurors sworn in. Read the
trial minutes for 7, 8, and 9 January 2013, for an understanding of
what took place in those three short days in preparation for this
complex trial with so many witnesses testifying for the government:
Judge 'no time for justice' Cavanaugh
was more concerned with rolling the docket. He is retiring this year.
He could not care less.
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