PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat
By David Hurst
dhurst@tribdem.com
A U.S. District Judge spent nearly seven hours Tuesday questioning a pool of prospective jurors for a Central City priest’s sex tourism trial.
But it wasn’t enough to seat a jury.
After excusing 45 potential jurors for extreme hardship or cause – such as bias or prejudice toward one side or the other – Judge Kim R. Gibson said a second batch of prospective jurors would need to be interviewed Wednesday to complete the process.
Out of an original pool of 70 men and women, 25 remained at the close of court.
Gibson is seeking 12 jurors and four alternates to hear the trial evidence.
But the remaining group still falls short because federal prosecutors and the Rev. Joseph Maurizio’s defense team still have an unspecified number of “strikes” they can use to disqualify jurors viewed as unfavorable to their case.
“It’s been a long day,” Gibson told the remaining group.
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