Scruggs-Backstrom defense argues against anonymous jury
“Despite arguing only days ago that the publicity attending Defendants’ upcoming trial was neither remarkable nor prejudicial to Defendants … the Government now takes a 180-degree turn and asks this Court to take the drastic step of empaneling an anonymous jury,” the defense response reads.
Individual juror information would be kept secret in an anonymous jury.
“The Government has failed to show that the publicity here poses any threat to the security or safety of the jury,” the response continues.
If the court is genuinely concerned about local media attention surrounding jury selection, the defense asked Biggers to reconsider its motion to move the trial out of Mississippi – because “this case does not attract elsewhere the level of intense scrutiny it does in Mississippi.”
NE MS Daily Journal
2/26/8
