Atlanta
(2008-09-18)
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Jury consultant Denise de la Rue says she would be wary that anyone eager to serve on the jury for a headline-grabbing case such as Nichols's has an agenda. She remembers when she worked on the Unabomber case:
DE LA RUE: We asked the question what did you think or feel when you got your summons for jury duty for this case?' And one person wrote, Larry King, here I come.'
Nichols's team plans to argue that he was temporarily insane when he allegedly shot four people in a rampage that began at Fulton County's superior court in 2005.
It's a death penalty case. De la Rue doesn't believe one can infer the outcome from the gender, racial, or religious makeup of the jury:
DE LA RUE: Certain races or religious beliefs may be more likely to impose the death penalty or less likely, but that really doesn't tell you anything about that one juror that you have to make a decision about.
Nichols's jury is made up of 8 women - six black and two white, and 4 men - two black, one white, and one south asian. Opening arguments are on Monday.
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