Georgia Jury Pool in Trump Co-Defendants’ Trial Must Answer 100+ Questions to Gauge Who Can Keep an Open Mind

ATLANTA – The first step in the upcoming five-month trial of Donald Trump co-defendants Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell will be a lengthy jury questionnaire aimed at testing whether or not potential jurors can keep an open mind.

Georgia prosecutors and defense attorneys debated which questions will make the final questionnaire during an hour long Monday morning hearing before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. 

Chesebro and Powell are the first defendants in the Georgia election racketeering case to go to trial after they invoked their right to a speedy trial under Georgia law.

The duo have pleaded not guilty to seven felony charges that were included in the sweeping indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleging they were part of a conspiracy with then-President Donald Trump and 16 others to overturn the 2020 election results in the Peach State. 

The jury questionnaire has more than 100 questions in it and will be filled out on Friday by 450 Fulton County residents, the first batch of 900 summoned in a process McAfee said he expects to last through the morning. 

“Bring a book because we’ll be there for an hour or two while they fill out questionnaires,” McAfee said, noting that attorneys could introduce their clients to potential jurors and walk around while they completed the questionnaire. 

Five attorneys for Chesebro’s team, three for Powell’s team and five more from the District Attorney’s office will be present, along with McAfee. 

Questions include basic logistics about the case, which based on a question discussed at Monday’s hearing, is estimated to last five months. Prosecutors originally estimated four months to try the case. 

“Any final thoughts on five months?” McAfee asked before approving the question. 

Dozens of questions focus on the substantive issue for jurors: can they keep an open mind in a high profile trial of political figures that includes a former president running again for his old job? 

McAfee pressed attorneys to whittle down the number of questions, avoiding repetition and noting that impartiality is not a disqualifying factor for a juror. 

“Whether these folks can be fair and impartial, you do agree, that in itself will not be a disqualifying factor?” McAfee asked Powell defender Brian Rafferty. 

“If somebody has an opinion of my client , and they express an opinion that’s extremely favorable or extremely unfavorable, I think that is going to lead to questioning of the jurors in that very narrow window of time that we have that would let us better understand what was going on,” Rafferty said.

McAfee reminded attorneys that “just because [a question] it’s struck from the questionnaire doesn’t mean it's foreclosed for me when you’re going into individual questions.”

After jurors fill out the questionnaire, they will be questioned by attorneys individually in a process known as ‘voir-dire’, in panels of 14, starting next Monday. 

“We’re asking overall whether we think there’s anything that shows bias or a fixed opinion, and we don't need to ask that questions a dozen different ways on the questionnaire,” McAfee said. 

Over a dozen questions, McAfee noted, are “like a Gallup poll,” asking jurors their familiarity and opinion of all 19 individuals charged in the original indictment. 

There’s also questions asking for their opinions on other high-profile individuals who are expected to be called as witnesses for the prosecution, defense, or both. That list includes former Trump associates like Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, InfoWars host Alex Jones and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. 

“Their opinion of other co-defendants, not on trial, I don’t think that’s going to… determine whether they can be impartial against these defendants,” said Georgia prosecutor Alex Bernick, opposing the vast range of questions about other defendants which he called “duplicative” and “irrelevant.”

Rafferty countered that asking prospective jurors' opinions of public figures offers more insight on impartiality than asking people if they are fair and impartial.

“We all like to believe we are fair and impartial,” he said. 

Bernick requested a question asking potential jurors their opinion of DA Willis also be removed. McAfee said he would think about it. 

Prosecutors also sought to strike questions that asked about the defense attorney’s legal theories in defense of their clients, which McAfee seemed inclined to agree with. 

“I understand completely what you’re talking about when you say this is how we figure out what jurors actually think. But ultimately, what I’ve applied is decades of case law on this point that says we’re not supposed to be asking jurors to give their opinion upfront,” McAfee said responding to Rafferty’s objection to certain questions being struck. 

“It would be a big mistake for us to treat this case like a normal case, because it’s unprecedented in the history of Georgia jurisprudence… it’s unprecedented in the history of American jurisprudence,” Scott Grubman, Chesebro’s attorney said, in defense of those questions. 

Bernick replied that Grubman was essentially asking the court to ignore the law because the case is unprecedented. McAfee said he’d take the defense's concerns under advisement and finalize the questionnaire later Monday. 

“I’ll try to get you that final copy, today, I’m going to send it by email,” McAfee said.