Shkreli aleady wants mistrial

Martin Shkreli’s criminal fraud trial jury hasn’t been selected yet and already the brash pharmaceutical executive is trying to get the case thrown out of court and lashing out at reporters.

Before court started Tuesday, Shkreli announced on his Facebook page that he bought the Internet domain names www.emilysaul.com and www.megtirrell.com. Emily Saul is covering the trial for the New York Post and Meg Tirrell is a CNBC reporter.

Once in court, Shkreli’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman asked to start the trial over because news reports cited negative opinions prospective jurors had expressed about his client.

The New York Post’s front page had the headline “Jury of his Jeers.” The judge rejected the request.

More than a dozen people were dismissed from jury service Monday, including a woman who called Shkreli “an evil man,” and another who said she knew he’d been labeled “the most hated man in America.”

Brafman also asked U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn to dismiss the entire pool of jurors, saying they were tarnished by the bad publicity and asked to restart the trial in a few weeks.

“I understand Mr. Shkreli, God bless him, has brought this notoriety upon himself,” Brafman told the judge. Nevertheless, Shkreli has the right to have jurors who aren’t biased, he said.

The judge also denied that request and moved on. Matsumoto agreed to further question the potential jurors on whether they had been swayed by the news stories.

Another 100 people were added to the pool. The questioning occurs outside the hearing of others in court.

By requesting a mistrial, Brafman is free to raise the issue of a tainted jury on appeal, should Shkreli be convicted.

Shkreli, the 34-yearold founder of Retrophin and Turing Pharmaceuticals, is accused of defrauding investors in two hedge funds and using $11 million of Retrophin assets to pay them off.

Chronicle News Services