Numerous defense attorneys representing January 6 defendants are perplexed in discovering that potential jurors are being recalled or “recycled.”
On Sept. 5, a day after Labor Day, defense attorneys discovered their potential jury pool consisted of jurors who were excused the week before.
Stephen Metcalf (Credit: Washington Post)
“I have never seen this in all my years of practicing law.” defense attorney Steven Metcalf fumed while exiting the federal courthouse after jury selection of Zachary Alam’s trial. ”Are there any jurors left in DC? What is going on here?”
The Gateway Pundit sat as the lone observer in the courtroom for nearly the entire duration of Alam’s 8-day trial and spent hours talking with Metcalf about this peculiar jury selection.
Repeatedly throughout Alam’s jury selection, Metcalf asked each potential juror that he was allowed to vet whether they recognized anyone else in the room.
By day 2, dozens of the potential jurors answered in the affirmative, referencing other individuals they convened with at the federal courthouse just a week prior when they were struck down for jury duty in other J6 cases.
Metcalf’s line of questioning confirming jurors are being “recycled” became a running joke in the courtroom.
“Do recognize anyone in this room,” Metcalf a woman who was later seated on the jury.
“Yes, I saw some of the people here last week when I was called for jury selection in another case,” she replied.
Conspicuously, one potential juror after another took the stand with the same story.
As Metcalf spoke to the approximate twentieth potential juror who confirmed they were at jury selection the week prior for another J6 trial, Judge Dabney Friedrich visibly restrained from bursting into laughter.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich (Credit: public domain)
Neither Friedrich, the Marshalls nor the prosecutors could keep a straight face.
Jury selection is a big mystery amongst a litany of shocking aberrations of the application of the law in J6 trials.
Getting called for jury duty is a simple luck of the draw. Many Americans go through their lives never being summoned or answering a jury duty summons. Few are called repeatedly and actually answer. But for some reason, many in Washington DC are reporting for jury duty for two different trials two weeks in a row.
A computer randomly picks prospective jurors from the jury pool during a “Detailed Randomization Procedure,” according to the Jury Selection Plan for the United States District Court For the District of Columbia.
The alleged random selection process makes it unlikely that someone will get summoned to serve twice, comparable to winning the lottery multiple times.
Once an individual reports for service, their name is pulled from the jury pool for at least the next 12 months, even if the individual does not get placed on a jury.(Read more: The Gateway Pundit, 10/04/2023) (Archive)