By 6:40 a.m. my briefcase was loaded with printouts and lunch (pink Odwalla drink, brown protein bar)–and I started north to NH. The courthouse was where my brother had said it would be, and the parking meter was just as quarter-hungry as he predicted. No computers, no cameras, no phones are allowed in the courthouse. And the x-ray guard asked me why I had so many quarters…
Upstairs, reporters and spectators shared one (1) hard wooden bench for the morning event–all the rest of the seats went to 60 prospective jurors. By 12:45, voirdire whittled that number down to a jury of 12 plus 2 alternates.
The wooden bench would have been much more annoying if not for the amusement of watching a slick DC lawyer woo prospective jurors, one by one, with identical smiles, nods, concerned question, extreme satisfaction with the answer to that question, etc. This charade goes on in full view of the whole jury pool, but I guess if the defense is basing its strategy on the idea that NH jurors are stupid and gullible, they might as well go for it all the way.
After lunch, I came back half an hour early to get a softer seat in the larger courtroom where we heard opening arguments and some evidence. Beverley Wang’s AP story gives the essence of the afternoon, but she left so much out! And I’ve got all the room in the world. Next story: the Government’s case against James Tobin.