Nearly 1/3 of prospective jurors on Monday knew about AJ Armstrong’s case

Houston – Antonio Armstrong Jr., who has been accused of killing his mother and father, is due to stand trial for the third time, seven years after the murders, as he continues to plead his innocence.
The trial began on June 5 after the previous two trials resulted in a hung jury. Before the trial, Armstrong sat behind his grandparents, who have been by his side through every stage of rehearsals.
Both prosecution and defense teams have been rearranged in court to appeal to the jurors.
During the voir dire retrial, both sides will take the month of May to interview jurors individually. The process is more of an elimination process, enabling both prosecution and defense legal teams to deselect jurors for a range of reasons, including undue prejudice or bias.
However, three of the 74 potential jurors who showed up at the 178th courtroom for the voir dire retrial raised concerns from the outset. One of them, a news reader, said, “I’ve read too much about this” and “I have an opinion.”
Another perspective juror stated frankly, “Walking into this room, I definitely had an opinion.” And the third stated, “It’s happened so many times.” When asked if they could be impartial, all three jurors replied, “No,” leading to their deselection.
Prejudice can reduce the fairness of a trial, so attorneys undoubtedly view jury selection as a critical aspect of case preparation.
KPRC 2 investigates this and other crucial aspects of the ongoing Antonio Armstrong trial with its team of legal experts on ‘The Bench’.
The third juror retrial continues to be covered from all angles, providing innovative and in-depth coverage that aims to deliver the full facts of every aspect of the case.
All rights reserved… ©2023 KPRC Click2Houston – Content source.

Content and Photo credit go to Texas Standard

Read the full article on Texas Standard News