Wilmington, Del. – Potential jurors in a defamation lawsuit tries to blame Fox News for the repeated airing false claims in connection with the 2020 presidential election were asked on Thursday if they were viewers of the network and had opinions on allies former President Donald Trump who helped spread the allegations after his loss.
Because jury selection was not available to the media and public, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced this afternoon that the interview process had produced a sufficiently large pool from which to select 12 jurors and 12 alternates could. Jury seating begins Monday morning, followed by opening statements from the attorneys.
Potential jurors were also asked if they knew lawyers or had any opinions about them Rudy Giuliani or Sydney PowellWHO represented Trump after his defeat and appeared on Fox News programs. There were also questions about Mike Lindelthe CEO of MyPillow, who helped spread it conspiracy theories related to voting machines.
News habits were the focus of the questionnaire to prospective judges, who were asked whether they watched regularly or avoided it Fox News programs and whether doing so would affect their ability to be fair and impartial.
Davis had clarified that the selection process would be held in camera to ensure the privacy and safety of potential jurors.
“Due to the nature of the case and as required by law, I can take these steps to protect the jury,” the judge said, noting that the case has received international attention.
“I have to make sure the jury is unaffected by this,” Davis added.
Jury selection in Delaware is usually public, but is occasionally closed, e.g. B. in high-profile criminal cases or those with suspected gang activities.
On Thursday morning, the judge met privately with prospective jurors and distributed forms asking several routine questions, including whether the juror has ever worked for Fox or knows anyone who has worked for Fox Dominion Voting Systemsthe Colorado-based voting machine company that filed the Defamation lawsuit.
They were also asked if they knew any of the possible witnesses the processa list of nearly 120 names.
Davis previously declined a request from attorneys for Dominion to ask prospective jurors if they believe the 2020 presidential election may have been stolen or illegitimate, or whether President Joe Biden was fraudulently elected.
Dominion also unsuccessfully tried to get the jury to question whether they agreed that the company committed fraud by rigging the election or that Dominion’s software and algorithms rigged the vote count.
Davis also didn’t allow questions about some of the claims that aired on Fox in the weeks after the election, including whether the jury agreed Dominion was owned by a Venezuela-based company to hold elections for the late strongman manipulating Hugo Chávez, or whether it paid bribes to government officials who used its machines that year.
Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion, alleging it harmed the company by repeatedly making such allegations. Internal Fox Communications produced as part of the lawsuit show that many Fox executives and on-air presenters didn’t believe the claims but transfer them anyway.
The judge began proceedings Thursday by denying a request by certain media outlets for permission to record and redistribute a live audio feed of the trial. The outlets sought similar permission for jury selection, although this is done privately with no audio access.
Davis told attorneys and members of the media in the courtroom that even providing an audio feed of the trial was unprecedented.
“In a Superior Court case in Delaware, you have the most access of any media,” he said.
The court hearing expected to last six weeks.
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