ORLANDO, Fla. – The seventh day of jury selection in the trial for the widow of the Pulse gunman ended Friday, just one juror shy of the necessary 56 needed in the pool in order to move on to the next phase of proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Paul Byron, who is presiding over the federal case against 31-year-old Noor Salman, said Friday morning that he hoped to have a pool of 56 potential jurors by the time court recessed on Friday, but the day ended with 55 potential jurors in the pool.
The day started out with 46 potential in the pool. Eighteen potential jurors were brought in for questioning Friday and by the time court recessed nine had been dismissed and nine were chosen to remain in the pool.
Come Monday, more potential jurors will be brought in for questioning until the pool reaches at least 56. Depending on how fast proceedings move, Byron may question more potential jurors to bring the pool to 58 so attorneys have some buffer room as they narrow the pool down.
After the pool is established, the court will break to give attorneys on each side time to decide who they would like to strike from the jury pool. Court will then reconvene Monday afternoon so attorneys can exercise those strikes and whittle the pool of at least 56 down to 12 jurors and six alternates.
News 6 legal analyst Whitney Boan said that it’s likely both Salman’s defense team and government prosecutors will want jurors who are more logical than emotional since the case against Salman involves technical elements and evidence.
“The law in this case is complicated in terms of what she's charged with,” Boan said. “So I think both sides will want people who are very good at separating emotion and laying out the elements and determining whether or not (government prosecutors) have met their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt as to each element.”
Many of the potential jurors selected to remain thus far work in fields related to science, technology or math. More than 30 of them are Caucasian and the remainder are black or Hispanic. Thirty-six are women and 19 are men.
They’ve all acknowledged that they’ve seen at least some news coverage about the attack Salman’s husband, Omar Mateen, carried out at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, but they indicated that they could set that knowledge aside and judge the case based only on the evidence selected.
Prospective juror No. 310 was dismissed Friday after he told the court that he works at a local television news station doing promotions and graphics. After the mass shooting on June 12, 2016, he created 3-D online models of the nightclub and collages with photos of the victims.
“I’ve seen a lot, I’ve sort of been exposed to a lot before this trial,” he said.
Multiple women in the jury pool have said they are victims of domestic violence. On Friday, potential juror No. 329 told the court that she had two previous marriages in which her ex-husbands were physically and emotionally abusive.
[MORE: 5 things to know | Who is Noor Salman? | Remembering the 49 | Pulse coverage]
Salman’s attorneys claim that she was the victim of domestic abuse.
Boan said because of that defense, it’s possible that Salman’s attorneys would want to keep potential jurors who indicated in their questionnaire that they have experienced domestic violence.
“If I was Ms. Salman's lawyers, I would want those individuals on my jury for sure. I would want women or men, but especially individuals who could really understand the dynamics of domestic violence of how that would play into her actions leading up to this Pulse incident,” Boan said.
Juror No. 340, a woman from Daytona, was dismissed after she told the court she thinks Mateen was controlling over and possibly abusive toward Salman. She said she believes Salman was not aware that her husband was planning a mass shooting.
“I just don’t think she knew about it, I really don’t,” Juror No. 340 said
Salman is accused of aiding and abetting in the attack at Pulse and obstructing justice by lying to FBI investigators after the fact. Her trial is being held at the U.S. Middle District courthouse in Orlando, which is about two miles from the nightclub.
Once again, Salman wore all black Friday and refrained from addressing the court. She often spoke with her attorney Linda Moreno, whispering and nodding to her as potential jurors were being questioned.
See a recap of the previous day of jury selection here.
Salman faces life in prison, if convicted.
[EXPERTS DISCUSS JURY SELECTION: Morning preview | Noon briefing | Evening recap]
Follow live updates from inside the federal courthouse from the News 6 team below:
(function(d, s, id) {var js,ijs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//embed.scribblelive.com/widgets/embed.js";ijs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, ijs);}(document, 'script', 'scrbbl-js'));