* Click here for the filing…
* Tribune…
“For at least the past two decades, the press coverage of Madigan has bordered on obsession,” defense attorneys for Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain wrote in a filing late Monday, calling the coverage “intense and grossly unfair.” […]
But the bulk of the publicity that defense attorneys complained about centered on Madigan, who spent decades at the top of the Springfield hierarchy and statewide Democratic politics.
The coverage – along with attack ads from Republican opponents – cemented Madigan’s image as an iron-fisted boss who derived power from a political machine, an image that could be hard for potential jurors to shake, the filing wrote. […]
The pretrial filings in Madigan’s case have also been written about at length; Tribune journalists, who have no obligation to hide the details of publicly available records, recently described a wiretapped recording that Madigan’s attorneys are trying to prevent jurors from hearing. That seemed to particularly draw the defense attorneys’ ire.
* From the filing…
The first step in determining if a potential juror may have biases that cannot be set aside is reviewing their public facing social media information. Potential jurors who publicly share their negative feelings of Madigan are less likely to be able to put their biases aside and judge Madigan fairly and impartially. Such individuals need to be identified and questioned about their opinions of Madigan during the individualized questioning. The next step is to ask several detailed questions in the written questionnaire regarding potential jurors’ exposure to Madigan and this case. These questions need to be asked in a variety of ways to determine if the potential 14 jurors have any strong feelings or preconceptions resulting from the negative media coverage of Madigan and all of the related criminal cases covered by the news media. If the potential juror has been exposed to this negative information, detailed questioning through voir dire is necessary to evaluate the credibility of each potential juror and assess their ability to evaluate the evidence presented at trial.
Thoughts?
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Sep 4, 24 @ 1:35 pm:
“For at least the past two decades, the press coverage of Madigan has bordered on obsession,”
That’s putting it mildly. At the same time, with JRT using un-constitutional hiring practices, the Trib & SJ-R did no investigations of note, and Pantagraph’s efforts were limited to an 2 part expose … of Sen. Howard W. Carroll.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Sep 4, 24 @ 1:55 pm:
Unfortunately it will probably be easy to get a jury of 12 who have never heard of Madigan but maybe that would not be a good idea
- @misterjayem - Wednesday, Sep 4, 24 @ 2:10 pm:
“The first step in determining if a potential juror may have biases that cannot be set aside is reviewing their public facing social media information.”
Another reason to never use you government name on the internet.
– MrJM
- Socially DIstant watcher - Wednesday, Sep 4, 24 @ 2:15 pm:
==along with attack ads from Republican opponents ==
Just exactly what do they think the shelf life of a campaign postcard is?
(Hint:ost campaigns send most cards in the week before an election, and no one sends them out 3+months ahead of voting)
- Boone's is Back - Wednesday, Sep 4, 24 @ 2:51 pm:
If they are going for a change of venue maybe this makes sense. Otherwise it seems like an easy way to alienate the jurors.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Sep 4, 24 @ 3:02 pm:
Maybe they’re trying to change venue to Indiana to have the judge in the Snyder case preside?