NEED Rx REFILL
Judge: Get more jurors for ‘Pharma Bro’ pool
BRING ON more jurors!
That was the call coming out of Brooklyn Federal Court, where Martin Shkreli’s upcoming fraud trial burned through about 20 potential jurors Tuesday after some 130 had been excused.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto asked for another 150 juror hopefuls for questioning on Wednesday.
The men and woman were shown the door for all sorts of reasons Tuesday — like one for being a pharmacist, another for falling prey to a Ponzi scheme and a third for being aware of Shkreli’s social media shenanigans.
The Pharma Bro gained notoriety for his 2015 price hike of an AIDS drug, even though he’s not charged for the increase. Instead, prosecutors have said Shkreli ran his companies scheme.
Before the next set of potential jurors arrived on Tuesday, Shkreli’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, moved for a mistrial — but got shot down. He complained about the heap of bad press that came out of the previous day’s jury selection.
Many jurors complained Monday it’d be too tough to sit on a five- to six-week trial, but some didn’t pull any punches when saying how they felt about Shkreli.
For example, one called him a “snake” and another said he was “the face of corporate greed in America.” One just called him a “d--k.”
Brafman recounted the namecalling in court. When like a Ponzi he said his client was called a body part, Shkreli (photo) tipped his head and grinned.
Brafman said the jury pool had been “irreparably tainted” from the exposure to the coverage that, he contended, questioned how anyone could fairly be a juror on a Shkreli trial.
Matsumoto asked the jurors if they saw the recent press coverage. Two jurors mentioned the “snake” quip. One woman said she could put it out of her mind — but another said he couldn’t. “I’m afraid it might put a bit more bias,” the man said of the coverage. One bounced juror said the case was “too close to home.” He fessed up to reading how Shkreli grew up in Sheepshead Bay — and he lived nearby. The man said he was concerned for his safety — even though Matsumoto told him there was no evidence for him to be concerned about.
Brafman called the claim “absurd” and noted the guy earlier said he needed to check with his wife about vacation plans.
“I don’t think he’s afraid of this client,” Brafman. “I think he's afraid of his wife.”
Meanwhile, another excused juror noted his colleagues followed Shkreli on Twitter. Shkreli was on the social media site until earlier this year, but was removed for harassing a journalist.
“I’ve seen some of the defamation comments he made,” the juror said, but insisted he could be fair. all decision-making, papers say. The petition also seeks an order for an “accounting” of the firm’s assets and liabilities prior to it being dissolved.
Cellino had sought to keep the breakup temporarily secret so that both sides and the court could “set a reasonable plan to address these issues before the glare of the inevitable media spotlight.”
A judge made the papers public after the Daily News, Buffalo News and another outlet challenged the secrecy in court.
Calls to Cellino’s attorney handling the breakup, as well as the Cellino and Barnes firm, were not returned.
Barnes previously said in a statement he would “aggressively oppose the dissolution.”
A state court in 2005 ruled the pair had committed professional misconduct, slapping Cellino with a six-month suspension from practicing law and Barnes with a censure that allowed him to continue practicing.
Cellino and Barnes captivated the nation with their TV ditty urging aspiring litigants to “call (800) 888-8888.”
The Buffalo News reported this week that Cellino and Barnes remained far apart following attempts at mediation