The federal judge in the Noor Salman is one potential juror short for his 60-juror poll, and jury selection will now continue into Monday.
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Federal Judge Paul Byron had hoped to wrap up jury selection in the case Friday, but now more potential jurors will have to be brought in.
Salman is the wife of Pulse shooter Omar Mateen. She's accused of helping him plan the June 2016 attack at the Orlando nightclub, killing 49 people.
After seven days of questioning more than 100 potential jurors, the court remains one short of having a pool of 56 potential jurors.
When Court resumes on Monday morning, Judge Paul Byron and attorneys will question potential jurors until they reach the point of 56 (they may add an additional one or two). That's expected to only take an hour or so.
Attorneys will then be given several hours before having to come back to court to start striking jurors in the pool, to whittle the pool of 56 down to 18.
Those 18 will be expected to make up the final jury of 12, plus six alternates.
The judge is hopeful that selected jurors will be notified by Monday afternoon, and opening arguments in the trial to begin Wednesday of next week. It is expected to be a three week trial.
Some 108 people in total have been questioned, of which 54 have been excused for one reason or another. Some have been excused for financial hardships unchangeable work obligations, or health reasons.
More than 20 have been excused because of admitted biases or deeply held opinions that is believed to play a factor in their decision making if selected.
JURY POOL BREAK DOWN (As of 4 p.m. Friday):
- White Men: 16
- White Women: 28
- Black Men: 2
- Black Women: 3
- Hispanic Men: 3
- Hispanic Women: 3
The judge had to stress Friday that the case is only about Salman. All week her defense attorneys have said that Mateen only targeted the gay nightclub because it was a soft target with little security and that he also scoped out Disney Springs and Eve nightclub.
However, prosecutors say that Pulse was intentionally targeted because of its popularity in the Orlando LGBTQ community and the attack was an intentional act on the gay community.
Attorneys also said that Salman was unaware of what her husband was up to. Salman is accused of helping her husband plan the June 2016 attack at Pulse nightclub that killed 49 people.
Defense attorneys say Pulse was only targeted by Omar Mateen because it had less security than Disney Springs and Eve nightclub (also scoped out), and deny Noor Salman was aware of any of it. @MyNews13 pic.twitter.com/hOBH4kU1zW
— Greg Angel (@NewsGuyGreg) March 9, 2018
Byron also stated that religion should not be a focus on the case. During the attack in Pulse, Mateen made several phone calls and in some of them he pledged his allegiance to ISIS.
Ultimately, 12 people will be picked to serve as jurors.