Jury Selection

The defense team is led by Dick DeGuerin, a Texas criminal defense attorney of mythical proportions. He's concerned that his client can't get a fair trial in politically liberal Austin. "It's a bad time for this trial because it's political season," said DeGuerin. His firm even hired a pollster (how appropriate) who assessed that 90% of voters in Travis County know who Tom DeLay is, and of those, 59% have a negative opinion of him.

However, Judge Pat Priest of San Antonio (not to be confused with the actress best known for portraying Marilyn Munster) denied the defense's request to hold the trial elsewhere in Texas. "I believe, with appropriate safeguards, we can get Mr. DeLay a fair trial right here in Travis County", said Priest.

The pool initially included 320 prospective jurors who each completed a 19-page questionnaire. Their responses were evaluated and the group was whittled down to 91. They all sat together on October 26, 2010 for final questioning by Cobb and DeGuerin so each could begin striking candidates.

DeGuerin tries to connect with the pool as best he may — as an Austin native, as a UT alum — but it feels forced and inappropriate. When learning that one prospective juror works for locally based Dell Computers, he responds "Let's see a raise of hands of those with email accounts." Most all hands are raised. "Isn't that something?", he notes, "I didn't use email until two years ago but thanks to Dell all you people have email addresses." His statement was followed by an awkward silence in the room.

As questioning continued, one claimed to be too partisan to make an objective decision, and another couldn't do so because of his total distrust of government. One wouldn't be comfortable passing any type of judgment on another person, and yet another had surgery scheduled for their pet dog the following week.

A particularly interesting exchange came after mention of a recent article in the hometown Austin American-Statesman. The story had chronicled the case to date. Defense requested a raise of hands from those who had read it. Only a few responded that they had. DeGuerin zeroed in on one of them. "And what did you think?", he asked. She responded, "I know the Statesman tends to give a particular slant on things so I followed up some research online." DeGuerin pressed on. "Do you think you could give Mr DeLay a fair trial?" With no hesitation, she chuckled and responded, "No."

After those exchanges, Judge Priest announced that the trial could last three weeks or longer. When he asked who might be troubled by such a lengthy commitment,a flurry of hands rose in the air. Upon questioning, several claimed it could cause economic hardship (jurors are compensated $40 per day for their service) or extreme disruption to their lives.

DeGuerin wants the prospective jurors to know that he's a registered Democrat, and, in spite of their political differences, he knows DeLay to be a man of good character. "These charges are all about politics," claims DeGuerin. Will that angle work for his client? Tom Delay, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro are, or were, themselves defined by politics. And that's the elephant in the room.  

DeGuerin contends that one party's victory doesn't deem its actions illegal. Some advocates for the opposing party are simply poor losers. But the prosecution claims that the end does not justify the means, and all parties must play by the rules. 

By the end of the day, after some haggling over whether or not African-American candidates were being categorically dismissed by the defense, 12 jurors and two alternates were assigned to the trial — with the group representing a virtual rainbow.