With jury selection in Elijah Reid’s murder case underway, I figured the time was right to talk about that particular process. The fact that this is a death penalty case makes even jury selection more of a task.

Let me start by taking you through the steps of jury selection during a normal trial (thanks to Rock Island County State’s Attorney Jeff Terronez for talking to me about some of the technicalities).

1. A list of potential jurors is created. According to the Web site of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Court Administrator, the list comes from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. Mr. White’s office gathers names from voter registration, driver’s license and state ID card records. A random sampling of those names is selected by Rock Island County and those are the potential jurors.
2. Potential jurors are issued a summons, generally about five weeks before the date they are expected to report.
3. On the day they report, the potential jurors go to the Rock Island County courthouse where they are questioned by both prosecuting and defense attorneys, as well as the judge presiding over the trial. They are asked about their background, what they have heard or read about the case and, according to Mr. Terronez, “their knowledge of the system and their perceived knowledge of the system.”
4. After questioning, a group of 12 jurors and one or two alternates is selected. The alternates are there in case any of the jurors become unable to serve after the trial has started.

The normal process generally takes between a couple hours and a full business day, but more often than not, testimony begins on the same day jurors are selected. Not so in Elijah Reid’s trial.

The big difference in this case is that the lawyers and Judge Walter Braud decided to throw an extra step into the process. Potential jurors who reported on Dec. 28 were given questionnaires to fill out. Mr. Terronez said the reason they decided to use the questionnaire is because the jury pool — 136 people split into two groups of 68 — was larger than most and in addition to questioning them about the trial, they have to be questioned about how they feel about the death penalty. Mr. Terronez wouldn’t talk specifically about what was on the questionnaire when I asked him about it, but he said the information would be useful next week when in-person questioning begins.

Here are the steps of Elijah Reid’s jury selection process:

1. 136 potential jurors are issued a summons and report to the Rock Island County courthouse on Dec. 28. Not all of them report at once, instead coming in two groups of 68.
2. The first group of potentials fills out the questionnaires, hands them to a bailiff and leaves.
3. The second group fills out the questionnaires, hands them to a bailiff and leaves.
4. Mr. Terronez, co-prosecutor Mark Senko and Mr. Reid’s attorneys William G. Schick and Stephen Richards will compile the answers over the course of Dec. 29 and 30. Though he could not say for sure, Mr. Terronez said it was possible that some jurors could be eliminated based on their answers.
5. Potentials that are not eliminated will again report back to the courthouse on Jan. 4 for questioning by the lawyers and Judge Braud.
6. After questioning, the parties will select 15 people — 12 jurors and three alternates. That number, Mr. Terronez said, is determined by the judge and varies from case to case. In this case, he said, Judge Braud felt more alternates were necessary.

As you can tell, this process is going to take a while. Though in-person questioning will start Jan. 4, Mr. Terronez did not know when testimony would begin because he had no way of knowing how long it would take to get 15 suitable people.

There you have it. By the way, keep your browser pointed at this blog and at www.qconline.com for coverage of the trial. I’ll be sitting in on everything starting Jan. 4 and I’ll be able to go into more specific detail about how the jury selection process is working. Plus, I’ll be writing stories for QCOnline.com and the print edition every day of the trial. So stay tuned.

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