Keith Raniere’s attorney Marc Agnifilo filed an interesting objection to Judge Nicholas Garaufis today, asking him to change his mind about the anonymity of the jury that the court will begin selecting on Monday.
Judge Garaufis had decided that to protect the jurors in such a high-profile trial, he wanted their identities protected not only from the public and press before, during, and after the trial, but also from the parties themselves.
But Raniere argues that keeping the identities of the jurors anonymous to him and his fellow defendants will be a barrier to his right to a fair trial.
For one thing, if the jurors realize that they’re being kept secret not only from nosy reporters but also the defendants, it might convince them that there’s something scary or dangerous about Raniere, which would prejudice them.
Once the seeds of suspicion are planted by use of juror anonymity, the jurors may attribute sinister implications to the defendants’ courtroom appearance and demeanor. Keeping the jurors anonymous from the public only will “minimize the effect that such decision might have on jurors’ opinions of the defendants.”
Also, keeping the jurors anonymous “will disrupt the ability of counsel to investigate jurors for bias”…
Though a jury questionnaire can begin this research, attorneys also have the “ability to conduct research on potential and sitting jurors, and clients now often expect that attorneys will conduct such research.”
That sounds a bit ominous, but we wonder if Raniere’s request is unusual. We can certainly understand wanting to know something about the people deliberating your fate.
What do you think? Will Judge Garaufis go for this one?
Here’s the document…
Nxivm Doc 503: Objection to… by on Scribd
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on April 5, 2019 at 18:15
E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He’s written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology’s harassment of Paulette Cooper titled ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely,’ and more recently a compilation of his stories, ‘Battlefield Scientology.’ He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world, as well as other subjects at The Underground Bunker. You can reach him by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you’d like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.)
