jurors for the Trump case.

Juries in the US and Mr Trump 

The Public is fascinated with juries on criminal cases. Especially in the USA. 

Recent years include OJ simpson who recently passed away. 

Johnny Depp trial, 

Michael Jackson and so on. 

On Monday, hundreds of New Yorkers from across the island of Manhattan found themselves facing a historic prospect: sitting on the jury of the first criminal trial of a former president. 

Why ? The facts are that the former president and presidential election candidate was charged last year with a felony over a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he is accused of having an affair. He has pleaded not guilty to falsifying business records, and he has continued to claim that this case and his other legal issues are the result of political persecution. 

Mr Trump - who is the Republican presidential candidate for 2024 - has complained about the setting of his trial in Manhattan, a borough with a large number of Democratic voters. He alleges that he will not face an unbiased jury on the island that long served as his home.Donald Trump is accused of falsifying his business records to disguise a hush money payment made shortly before the 2016 election to an adult film star with whom he allegedly had an affair.It will be up to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and Mr Trump's legal team to weed through the masses of New Yorkers to find 12 people capable of setting aside their feelings about one of the most polarising US politicians, to give him a fair trial.

Trump's lawyers have already complained that the city's Manhattan borough, comprised predominately of Democrats, will not allow for an impartial jury. 

And experts agree it will prove challenging. 

The process will begin with dismissing jurors who are unable to participate in the six-week trial because of hardships such as childcare obligations and travel restrictions,The jury process will involve several stages that could last well over a week

Those jurors will be anonymous to the public, but Mr Trump's team and prosecutors will know their identities. 

Experts say the second stage could pose the biggest challenge: removing those who will not be impartial. 

To start weeding out those who are biased, prosecutors and the defence team will analyse questionnaires filled out by the prospective jurors.

The issue is if the juror can be impartial and can reach a verdict consistent with the law,

The potential questions to the jury People who have served on a hung jury - a case where a jury could not reach a verdict - are less likely to be picked because "the concern is they're the ones who hung it up. Some of the questions are even more personal, asking jurors what their children do for a living and if they take any medication that would prevent them from being able to concentrate during the trial. Prosecutors and Mr Trump's legal team will be able to challenge those that they don't want to be included on the jury. 

Each side has 10 "peremptory" challenges, jurors they can dismiss for no particular reason

As a barrister at law and lawyer practitioner and public lawyer I am interested in this trial by comparison to our english system in the UK. Look out for a discussion on my podcast the law and guidance podcast.