Listening now to pre-trial hearing in Charlottesville Sines vs. Kessler civil case, which is set to go to trial Monday, more than 4 years after "Unite the Right." Judge Moon is going thru jury pool, weeding out those who can be excused now to save time in jury selection Monday.
No. 182's a nurse who works at local hospital and Judge Moon said he wants to make sure medical workers are excused b/c of pandemic. No objections; excused. No. 156, woman, has dog that’ll have puppies during trial and child with special needs who’s homeschooled. Also excused.
Another man was just excused who served on the grand jury that indicted James Fields, the white supremacist who was convicted of murdering Heather Heyer. Judge also excused a student-athlete but said university students generally will be considered for the jury.
White supremacist and defendant Chris Cantwell just asked the court now about another juror: Are we concerned that he thinks antifa are useless criminals? He's looking at an answer in the jury questionnaire. But convo quickly moves to masks...
Judge Moon wants everyone in the jury to be masked and would prefer to excuse jurors who won't or can't for whatever reason wear a mask during the trial.
Some people are participating in court in person today while others are appearing via Zoom or phone. Those in court are masked, but Judge Moon said they can remove their mask to speak because it's hard to hear and understand people in this hearing.
Judge Moon said there are a lot of jurors to get through, and it certainly seems that way. This could go on for some time today.
Another potential juror discussed right now answered a question in the juror questionnaire about masks by saying he can't wear a mask for a long time. Court debating him now and others who say they might not be able to follow court rules re: masks.
Cantwell piping up about jurors who have strong opinions about left-wing activists. Cantwell said he doesn't see how juror No. 150 referring to antifa as extremists and terrorists "after they spent 2020 looting and burning is a controversial point of view."
Plaintiffs bring up another potential juror, 160, who said he doesn't like to wear masks b/c it's against his beliefs as a Christian. Judge Moon said he won't excuse him now b/c some people say they won't wear masks but "do what they're supposed to do" when they show up in court.
Another potential juror Cantwell wants b/c she watches Fox News, is a history teacher who's 'upset about historical monuments taken down.' Plaintiffs say she lives more than an hour away, has an autoimmune disease that puts her at risk. Moon says she's not excused yet. Moving on.
I'm breaking here to take care of some other things. Hearing is ongoing.
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