Hundreds attend special jury selection
Rare Saturday court sitting first step in picking members of public to decide fate of Jamie Bacon
Hundreds of potential jurors for the upcoming Jamie Bacon trial gathered Saturday at the Vancouver Law Courts for a rare weekend sitting.
So many people received notices for the Feb. 4 trial that they filled three courtrooms on the fifth floor, a section of the great hall on the fourth floor and most of the public gallery and lobby of Courtroom 20 — the high-security basement courtroom specially constructed for the Air India terrorism case.
There was even a refreshment table outside Courtroom 20 with free coffee, tea, water and snacks for the roughly 580 members of the public who attended.
All the potential jurors were connected to Courtroom 20 by video monitors so they could listen as B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge explained the process of whittling the large group down to 14 jurors and two alternates.
Bacon, a former Abbotsford resident, is charged with counselling an associate to murder another associate between Nov. 30, 2008 and Jan. 2, 2009. The man survived the alleged murder plot.
There are several sweeping publication bans in place for the trial, which is scheduled to run for 10 weeks once it begins next month.
Bacon stood up in the prisoner’s box as the charge he faces was read aloud Saturday. Asked for his plea, he responded clearly: “Not guilty.”
Wedge told the jury pool that “all of us involved in the administration of justice are well aware of the inconvenience that jury duty may cause you — witness all of you here today on a Saturday.
“However, we are fortunate to live in a free country where the rule of law prevails and one of the most important fundamental rights is the right to trial by a jury.
“One of your responsibilities as citizens of Canada is to participate in the system of justice by acting as jurors from time to time and both society and the law greatly benefit from your experience.”
She explained Canadian law allows just 12 jurors to deliberate and reach a verdict.
“However in certain cases, the trial may begin with 13 or 14 jurors. Given the anticipated length of this trial, which is approximately 50 days, I have decided it is in the interests of justice to select 14 jurors in this case,” Wedge added. “That is to ensure that a complete jury is available to deliberate.”
Wedge said she would do a random draw to select the two jurors who will be excused before deliberations.
She said two alternate jurors would also be selected in case the other 14 are not all available at the commencement of the trial.
The hundreds who attended Saturday were broken into groups of 40 by a random draw. Each group was assigned a time and date to return to court next week where they will be questioned individually in the second phase of jury selection, she said.
“In this case, the law also allows counsel to challenge the jury panel for cause by inquiring from each of you as to whether or not you are able to judge this case impartially due to pre-trial publicity,” Wedge said.
“Every juror must be impartial which means that every juror must approach the case with an open mind and without preconceived ideas.”
She noted that if any of the potential jurors had any association to anyone involved in the case, they had to inform her when they return to court next week.
Just before Saturday’s proceedings began, sheriffs reminded potential jurors not to investigate or search for details of the case online or to tweet, blog or post any photos about the proceedings.
They were also told they would earn $20 a day for the first 10 days of the trial, rising to $60 daily for days 11 to 49 and up to $100 a day if the trial last 50 days or more.