Voir Dire questioning eliminated over half of potential jurors
RIDGWAY - More than 75 people selected for jury service gathered at the Elk County Courthouse in Ridgway on Monday morning.
Due to the charges against Troy Allen Cool, 53 of St. Marys, a larger than usual group of potential jurors was brought forward to participate in the Voir Dire process.
Cool is facing charges of trafficking in individuals, criminal conspiracy, patronizing the victim of sexual servitude, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, prostitution, sexual abuse of children, criminal use of a communication facility, corruption of minors and indecent assault.
Voir Dire is the questioning of prospective jurors by a judge and attorneys in court. Voir dire is used to determine if any juror is biased and/or cannot deal with the issues fairly, or if there is cause not to allow a juror to serve (knowledge of the facts; acquaintanceship with parties, witnesses, or attorneys; an occupation which might lead to bias; prejudice against the prosecution or defense, or previous experiences such as having been sued in a similar case).
One of the unspoken purposes of the voir dire is for the attorneys to get a feel for the personalities and likely views of the people on the jury panel. While the judge asks some of the questions, the lawyers on both sides, prosecution and defense, are given substantial latitude and time to ask questions.
Some jurors may be dismissed for cause by the judge, and the attorneys may excuse others in "peremptory" challenges without stating any reason. Usually questioning is done in groups of 30 to 40 people.
Because the charges the defendant faces involved the sexual abuse of a child, an initial panel of 50 possible jurors were randomly selected for the process. This proved to be necessary as over half of the potential jurors were eliminated through the voir dire process when they were informed of the charges against Cool.
Prosecuting Cool is Elk County District Attorney Thomas G. Gregory Coppolo. and Assistant Elk County District Attorney Beau Grove. Elk County Public Defender Gary Knaresboro is defending Cool.
Because this case only began last year in December there were far more potential jurors who had heard of the case and the initial 50-person voir dire group was reduced to 28 people. Additional jurors were picked from the remaining jury pool bringing the total back up to 50. Several more were eliminated by questioning until there were a remaining 32.
At this point, the prosecution and defense passed the jury list back and forth for about 1/2 hour before arriving at a jury of a dozen primaries and four alternate jurors to hear the case.
Cool's two-day trial is scheduled for September 28-29 beginning each day at 9 a.m. in the Main Courtroom of the Elk County Courthouse. Cool remains incarcerated in the Elk County Prison.