Jury selection extends to day two

Fifty-six questionnaires. Forty-six individual interviews. Sixteen excused jurors.
After an exhaustive eight hours, the first day of the Christopher Jack Reid trial ended without a jury being selected.

Reid, an adult film actor, is charged with second-degree rape, first-degree burglary, two counts of residential burglary and attempted residential burglary.

The charges stem from events that occurred on the night of Sept. 12, 2007, when Reid and former WSU student Kyle M. Schott, allegedly broke into several Greek houses on College Hill in Pullman and sexually assaulted a sleeping woman at the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

"This is taking a little bit longer than your average rape case," Whitman County Prosecutor Denis P. Tracy said. "But that's because there was a little more pre-trial media coverage and the added unusual feature of having (a defendant) who creates porn."

Before a jury could be chosen, each of the potential 56 jurors filled out a three-page questionnaire, which asked them about their exposure to media coverage of the trial, their personal experiences of unwanted sexual contact, and whether they would "have difficulty being fair and impartial if there was evidence in this case that a party or witness was associated with the adult film or pornography industry."

Based upon the questionnaires and preliminary questioning, seven jurors were immediately excused for reasons ranging from doctor appointments to familiarity with many of the 40 potential witnesses.

Of the remaining 49 jurors, all but three answered their questionnaires in such a way that required individual interviews. Many of them answered that they were unsure of their ability to be impartial if the defendant was involved in pornography.

Juror No. 5 said she didn't know if she could be fair and unbiased. She said she worried she might favor the state in the case.

Defense attorney Chris A. Bugbee asked that she be removed, but Tracy argued she could be impartial and only struggled with her words.

"I don't think every juror should be expected to express themselves with crystal clarity," Tracy said.

Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier overruled Bugbee’s objection.

By the end of the day, nine more jurors were excused. Juror No. 40, one of the dismissed, said pornography "is a vile industry."

"I don't believe I could be impartial," he said.

In addition to exploring the jurors' views on pornography, Frazier asked them about any personal experiences they might have had which would affect them in this case.

"What we want is an important decision to not be based on an emotional reaction," Bugbee said. "We want cases to be decided based upon the evidence and the rational analysis of how those factors apply to the facts."

One juror shared that she had experienced unwanted sexual touching from a family member, but has also had a close friend who was wrongfully accused of sexual assault.

“I know there are two sides to every story,” she said.

After eight hours of questioning, 40 potential jurors remained. Frazier instructed them to stay away from media coverage of the case, not to discuss the case with anyone, and to return for the second day of the trial.

Jury selection should be completed by noon Tuesday, Frazier said. Before it began, Frazier estimated the trial would take five days. Tracy said based upon how long jury selection is taking, it might now stretch past Friday.

Video Responses

1) I think editor Steve Smith did make a differentiation between a legitimate news story and one that is not. It's an extremely important distinction, which I think is all too often overlooked by the media. It's not an easy thing to distinguish the difference. It's just the small nuances that matter.

The fact that the mayor was on gay.com was not news, it was his personal business. However, if the mayor was doing anything illegal on gay.com, then it becomes newsworthy because he is an elected official.

2) Morlin justified the use of a concealed identity on gay.com because it was the only way to find out if Mayor West was actually the man on the site. Morlin couldn't create the assumed identity because he said it went against the newspaper's ethics standards.

3) The Spokesman probably published as many stories as they did about Mayor West in part because they broke the story. Since so many other media outlet picked it up, however, it then became a battle for them to continue to own the story and be the main source of information.

It was also in part due to the fact that the paper and the setting for the improprieties both were in Spokane. This is something the paper probably felt was directly relevant to the interest of its readers.

4) Ideally, you would hope the residents of Spokane benefited from the decision to expose Mayor West. Mayor West was hurt by the decision, but overall I would say it was worth it.

I think the Spokesman should have gathered more reliable sources before implicating West in pedophilia, that story seemed like a bit of a stretch and a little sketchy to me, but the investigations into misuse of office were justified.

If West was using positions with city hall as payments for sexual favors, that is something the residents of Spokane have a right to know and should be made aware of.

The use of an undercover sting operation is also questionable, especially because much of the reasoning for it seemed to be for uncovering pedophilia. My biggest criticism of the entire investigation is that the Spokesman seemed too readily to believe that West molested young boys. They didn't want to see if it was proven with their investigation, it seemed, but rather use the investigation to prove that their hunch was true.

Even after West didn't go after the 17-year-old boy, they continued with the undercover operation.

5) I would say this story is a bit of a stretch, almost like the paper is patting itself on the back. They write the article with the assumption that Lynch's leave verifies the paper's original report. The story talks about all the different questions that haven't been answered, but despite the lack of answers, the paper ran with the story anyway.

It doesn't take much to imagine what readers are going to assume when they read the story, but the paper gives no hard evidence to support the assumptions. It should have waited to have stronger evidence before moving forward with story with so much potential to do damage if incorrect.

There is definitely a story, and something worth reporting on, but the paper also has a responsibility to proceed with caution. I think they should have exercised a little more in this story.

Special Lead examples

Narrative lead

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from the Washington Post

Contrast lead

Homey, but No Haven From Hard Times
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Second-day lead

Twenty-four hours after parents discoverd their 4-year-old daughter was missing from her crib, police are still without leads in the case.

Maria L. Norton, the young girl's mother issued a statment asking anyone with any information to please come forward.

Video response

After watching the video, I was impressed by the similarity in the news gathering process of print and broadcast journalism. The daily meetings and discussions about what should be the top stories remain similar regardless of the medium. The values in the news organizations also stay the same. Credibility and accuracy are of extreme importance. I also thought it was interesting that while the reporter is primarily interested in getting the story, editors are more concerned about the presentation of the story, where it is placed and making sure it is digestible for the reader or viewer.

It was also interesting to see the behind the scenes involvement of all the people it takes to put out the news each day. I agree with the notion that the general public doesn't realize everything that goes "into feeding the best," and how deep an organization newsrooms actually are. It's a daily grind and generally a somewhat stressful environment. I think the video did a good job explaining how producing daily news is dependent upon a group effort and isn't something one can accomplish alone.