1:00:29 I actually want to stick on that comment when we come back because the jury selection process here is obviously going to be extremely important, maybe even the most important part quite frankly considering how this is gonna go. So Bob Barnes in studio with us We're gonna do a simulated opening statement from Bob Barnes eventually with he's with us here today But let's come back and talk about the jury selection process cuz most people don't even understand how that works so let's get into that All right, we're gonna do a mock kind of simulated opening statement here with Bob Barnes as we continue on the Alex Jones Show. But I wanna stick with the process of jury selection something that a lot Americans aren't really aware of they don't understand how it goes down they don't understand the importance, the implication. I just so happen to have worked for lawyers and been in jury selection process twice So I kinda have an idea of what goes on And for a lotta cases
1:01:18 Jury selection really is the most important part of a case and it might not seem that way but Really, it is especially with trial cases that end up with a jury verdict which is what could be the case for Alex Jones here. So we're in the process of the jury selection right now Bob just kind of go through the basics just legal 101 What is the jury selection process like? And then Why is it so important? Why do lawyers and judges really spend a lot of time making sure they get the jury selection process right. Well, it reflects an old principle that I like to say which is motivation is the master of reason, reason is not the master of motivation What that means if you want improve your reasoning shift your motivation Theoretically thats what we're taught as lawyers to do though increasingly your woke crowd can't even-is not even capable doing so
1:02:06 So what does that mean? It means jurors come in with preordained beliefs about your case. They often are not consciously aware of their own beliefs, some are and some will lie to get on the jury as I think happened in the Steve Bannon trial and happened in the Roger Stone trial but some just don't or not aware of their bias. No it's like if you meet a certain kind of person, if you meet somebody that say a woke liberal on the issues related to this case has example Someone who hates guns, someone who believes Second Amendment shouldn't exist. Someone whose got eight veto signs in their front yard. Someone who believes that the speech should be restricted. Someone who believes in safe spaces your classic sort of COVID Karen kind of personality That kinda person is not going to be an impartial jury
1:02:49 But they will often say they are, and some of them actually may think they will be. So that's the first reality is that the jury is the one to make the decisions and jurors come in with preconceptions and preconceived biases that will often shape the case and they will filter evidence in accordance with it. I call it a memento memory. In other words most jurors that walk-in are like from the movie Memento, they remember what they want to remember and don't remember what they don't wanna remember. It's like any political debate you've ever engaged in with anybody on the opposite side or opposite party That's part one. Now, why do we have trial by jury in America? Because it was first established in the Magna Carta was an old principle which is you should only be tried by a the other members of your community who can fairly and fully assess what you've done whether it was right or wrong and what injury it may have caused and what remedy is appropriate and proportionate
1:03:37 So that goes all the way back to the Magna Carta. It's in the 7th Amendment of United States Constitution, it's applied through the states through the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Civil Rights Amendments and then these state have their own constitutional protections for trial by jury as both Connecticut and Texas do. And what it means is on any question that is about whether you were morally right whether your cause injury what the remedy for injury would be a jury supposed to decide Now, historically in America juries were allowed to decide sentences as well as whether somebody committed a crime. They're able to decide the law as well as the so-called facts. The court system has usurped that from the jury because leave it to the courts to say we think we should have that exclusive power not the jury and because the only party around to enforce the right to trial by jury are the courts themselves
1:04:26 Surprise, surprise courts decided to monopolize that part of the power. The power to determine law to themselves so now in America jurors only get to decide because of the court system and facts but in the case about Jones are not even being allowed to hear those facts in order to determine those facts Now, the other important part of jury selection is you're entitled to an impartial jury. So the jury's supposed to represent the venue that you're from, a fair representation of the local communities, part one. Part two is they're supposed to be impartial. In other words, they don't come in with a preconceived bias in the case. The reality is very few jurors in America are even capable of being impartial in most politically motivated cases
1:05:10 And so in a case like this, the jurors preconceived political bias will heavily shape whether they can be impartial or not. The reality is even Alex Jones fans are actually much more capable of being impartial in this case because they're willing to see whether he did right or wrong, whether an injury happened and whether remedies appropriate. Your Alex Jones haters are not. They're not willing to listen to the evidence. They're not willing to judge it impartially. They're not willing to make a judgment consistent with the facts on the law And so the hard part for Alex Jones lawyers in court today is can you find an impartial jury in Austin, Texas when there's been all this inflammatory prejudicial coverage and the media? Because that's the other aspect that's important. Your right to a impartial jury that's representative of the community includes your right to a jury that hasn't heard about the case outside of the case that has biased them in certain conclusions
1:06:02 And that is a critical and equally essential component of your right, constitutional right to trial by jury. Because in the end it's constitutional democracy preserved. How do we best protect our freedoms and liberties? Who do we give power to because that's what often a question isn't who has a right to something is who do we give power to? Do you get power to unelected judges? Do we give power to elected judges? Do we give power to appellate or Supreme Court, or district court judges. Do we give power to the executive branch? Do we get power of the legislative branch? Or do we instead give power to 12 ordinary everyday people who will impartially judge the facts and morality of the case and come to a conclusion in judgment of the community?" Our forefathers said that only people we could really trust
1:06:48 To protect our freedom, to protect our liberty is an impartial 12 members of our local community. That's why trial by jury is so essential. It's not just about this case it's not just about future cases, it's about the future of freedom and liberty in America And just kind of a practical example of this, when I first was selected for jury duty it was a gentleman who got caught with some crack cocaine or something in the streets of St. Louis and part of the question they asked me they say have you ever been arrested for drug offense before? I said yes I was when i was younger in college immediately they don't want me on the case because they know I'm gonna have a bias against police They then did some follow-ups
1:07:28 And I said, I'm against the war on drugs. I probably would let this guy walk even if he was found guilty. So immediately I was struck from that jury so that's kind of part of the process is okay well you know this guys got a bias maybe against police This guy is against the war on drugs we don't want him on our jury and then in the other case it was a longer white collar crime I think it was money laundering or something and the lawyer that I was working for at the time If you land on this jury, you're going to be for months. This case is going to go on forever." So he's like, you should probably just say the word jury nullification a couple of times. Just slide it in there and they won't put you on the jury and they were right. And that's a good process because it is a way to get an impartial jury. That's just the way it goes now. The one question I have here... You can answer this quickly cause I don't hear brought up often but
1:08:15 What about even the jury duty process? I mean, is there a chance that that could be rigged. Is there a chance like Bannon's case Stone's case or any other cases where they could make sure that even in the jury duty selection that they kind of even have to No, I mean there's a lot of ways jury selection can be tampered with or can be rigged. Usually by the system so one is who they subpoena? Who they summons? Did they do it properly was it really representative to community that does... There was Lincoln Lawyer Amazon TV series show and they portrayed a judge who was manipulating that part of the process. The second part of the process is what questions they ask. A third part of the process what question they allow your lawyers to ask