UM Grace Case

Suits filled the lobby this morning, waiting anxiously to get into the courtroom.  Some seemed nervous.  Some paced.  A few seemed relaxed.  One even smiled.  All seemed alert, though the yawning began within the first hour of voir dire examination.  The jurors had entered the courtroom early, where they were instructed on the possible length of this trial and the schedule.  The Court said the plan is to proceed with an alternating three-day and four-day schedule.

There was not an empty seat left, once the attorneys, defendants, and media joined the members of the jury pool in the courtroom.  I do not know if visitors were turned away; there appeared to be people in the overflow courtroom downstairs.

The jurors ranged widely in age and appearance, from one who appeared hardly old enough to serve and several others who leaned heavily on canes.   Judge Molloy entered the courtroom, and after initial greetings, the courtroom was temporarily arrested by two voices beaming over the speakers.  No one learned the identities of the voices, and Judge Molloy flipped all his switches, unable to shut the sounds off.  After the brief interruption and laughter from the courtroom (which served to deflate the tension in the air), the technical difficulties were resolved, and Judge Molloy began questioning the potential jurors.

Between about 9:15 and 10:10 a.m., Judge Molloy asked his initial questions to five potential jurors.  Judge Molloy spent time explaining the charges, the legal process, the witnesses and the burden of proof, asking jurors if they understood and could follow his instructions.  The jury did not express any surprise in body language or facial expression when they learned that this was the “Grace case.”

The first two potential jurors said they had basic ideas of the case, but had not followed any of the media coverage.  Each of the five potential jurors said they did not trust the newspapers, often citing this distrust as a reason for not bothering to read the newspapers.  Judge Molloy made a point of the inaccuracies of the media coverage, citing this morning’s front page article, which he said “couldn’t be more wrong” and that had reported his ruling exactly opposite of what it actually was.

The third juror was a 40-year resident of Libby and knew many of the people on the jury questionnaire form, including the Parkers.  He said he was not convinced that W.R. Grace was guilty and indicated the government had to persuade him that these Defendants “knowingly (his emphasis) killed all these people.”  The potential juror said though that he could be fair and would leave his personal and background knowledge out of these courtroom proceedings.

The fourth juror’s dad was dying of asbestos-caused lung cancer and suffering from the hardening of his lungs.  Her 84-year old dad had worked for Champion Lumber Company in Butte and Great Falls.  She was ambivalent as to whether she could be fair in these proceedings, but said, “I’d try.”

The fifth juror had learned just last night that her mother was given a month to live because of pancreatic cancer.  Judge Molloy said he would discuss the matter with her later.  She also had family that had lived in Libby, though they were unaffected as far as she knew.

None of the five potential jurors indicated that they had read or followed the media coverage of this case or the situation in Libby.  – Nick Lofing