A questionnaire for potential jurors in the Kobe Bryant sexual-assault case asks their views on professional athletes, interracial relationships and familiarity with the trial participants in an effort to seat an unbiased jury, reports the Denver Post. The questionnaire, released by the court Monday, poses 82 questions ranging from standard personal information to familiarity with the high-profile criminal case in which Bryant, 26, is accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old hotel clerk in June of 2003. The basketball star admitted to committing adultery but said the liaison was consensual.
An introductory letter from Judge Terry Ruckriegle says the answers will be kept secret and that potential jurors are not allowed to discuss their answers or any other aspects of the case with anyone. Karen Lisko, a senior litigation consultant for Persuasion Strategies, an in-house service of the Denver law firm of Holland & Hart, was surprised by the brevity of the questionnaire. “Judge Ruckriegle clearly had a heavy hand in finalizing this questionnaire,” Lisko said. “A questionnaire with 82 questions is considered fairly short for a high-profile case like this. Consider the fact that the O.J. Simpson criminal questionnaire was over 80 pages long.” Lisko noted that 55 of the 82 questions relate to demographics and life experience. The attitudes jurors hold are far more important than the demographic ones, she said.
Link: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~28682~2369945,00.html