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Jurors On All-White O.J. Panel Say They Can Be Fair

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The Associated Press

Published: September 13, 2008

LAS VEGAS - It is not the jury of O.J. Simpson's dreams, but neither does it shape up to be his nightmare.

The all-white jury that on Monday will begin judging him and a co-defendant on robbery and kidnapping charges was culled from an initial pool of 500 who answered questionnaires, and the remaining dozens who were later quizzed in the courtroom.

Prosecutors removed two prospective black jurors with their challenges.

Simpson's attorneys managed to eliminate those with the strongest opinions about his 1995 acquittal on murder charges. Prospective jurors who said Simpson got away with murder have been thanked and told to go home.

The ones who remained when jury selection ended late Thursday night said they could put aside any residual opinions about the slaying of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Most of the jury members said they didn't care that much about Simpson's "Trial of the Century" when it was televised gavel to gavel.

"One woman who said she had a toddler and a job at the time said, "I had my own drama going on in my life."

All the panelists said they won't let Simpson's earlier case influence them when they judge him and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart on allegations that they robbed two sports collectibles brokers at gunpoint a year ago in a Las Vegas casino hotel room.

"These 12 jurors are really going to have to rise to the occasion," Simpson attorney Yale Galanter said Friday. "They must set aside their feelings about O.J. Simpson and judge him on what they see in the courtroom."

"Would I rather have had a more diverse group? Absolutely. But I do have faith in the system," he said.

The nine-woman, three-man jury panel comes from a mix of occupations: engineers, computer experts, a pharmaceutical saleswoman, a food and beverage manager, a preschool teacher and a bank teller.

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