Screen Shot 2012-06-05 at 12.42.12 PM
Voir dire, better known as jury selection – in which the prosecution and defense teams strike potential jurors until a dozen plus alternates) remain – began in the Jerry Sandusky trial today, and as you might imagine, finding a completely impartial jury may prove difficult. 

Screen Shot 2012-06-05 at 12.32.46 PM

Tweeting updates from pool reporters, WPXI’s Courtney Brennan (@WPXI_Courtney), who looks like Amy Poehler spliced with Reese Witherspoon (yes, please), puts forth the following:

If jurors do work for Penn State they'll be questioned about what their job duties are…it's not an automatic dismissal. 2nd phase of jury selection…jurors were asked if they knew Jerry Sandusky, his wife or worked for the Second Mile…several raised their hands. 20 jurors said they knew some of the prosecution's witnesses that included Mike McQueary. A good portion of the jurors have some connection to Penn State or the 2nd Mile or know Jerry Sandusky personally.

 

Eeesh.

And then there’s this: 

Screen Shot 2012-06-05 at 12.38.13 PM

Hard to determine what, if any, impact some jurors potentially being connected with Penn State will have on the trial. From my very unscientific observations, most PSUers consider Sandusky to be the devil. It’s a small place, though, this happy valley, and you can’t help but wonder what could happen if a few folks who are a bit too close to (or too obsessed with) the football program are selected. Either way, I’m sure the whole trial will be a clusterfuck. We’ll look forward to more updates from Courtney Brennan.