Sussmann Judge Rejects Prosecutors’ Protests After Juror Reveals Tie To Defendant
By Tim Pearce
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May 19, 2022 DailyWire.com
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper denied a request by special counsel John Durham’s team of prosecutors to remove a juror who’s daughter competes on the same high school sports team as the defendant’s.
A woman identified as juror #5 told Cooper on Thursday that she recently discovered that her daughter competes with cybersecurity attorney Michael Sussmann’s daughter on their high school crew team. The juror said she was unaware of the connection when she was filling out her jury questionnaire last week and that the two girls, separated by a three-year age gap, are not close, according to The Washington Times.
The juror said that she had never met Sussmann or his wife, and thought she could be an impartial juror despite the connection. The judge agreed, voicing disappointment that the issue couldn’t have been brought to light earlier, but saying that the juror’s willingness to come forward after finding out herself spoke to seriousness with which she approached her duty as a juror.
Cooper overruled protests from the prosecution. Durham’s team moved to have the juror dismissed, arguing they would not have agreed to seat her had they known of the connection. Sussmann’s defense team argued she should stay.
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