BOISE, Idaho — Lori Vallow's murder trial aims to reduce a pool of 1,800 potential jurors down to a 12-person jury with 6 alternates. Vallow is the Rexburg mom charged with murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of her children, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. She's also charged with conspiracy in the death of Tammy Daybell, the former wife of her current husband, Chad Daybell.
In jury selection, it is the responsibility of the prosecution and defense to find potential jurors with bias and flush them out of the pool.
"You're not actually picking who's going to be on the jury. You're actually picking people who you want off of your jury," Boise Criminal Defense Attorney Jeffrey Brownson said. "The most common would be just exposure, maybe, to the media. Things that they've read heard been told, for some reason that they feel like they cannot be fair and impartial at this point. They cannot put those that information that extraneous information outside of their mind, and just decide the case based upon the evidence that's presented there in the courtroom."
Brownson has no connection to the Vallow trial.
Potential jurors can also be excused for personal and financial reasons at the discretion of the Judge. On the first day of Vallow's jury selection, Judge Steven Boyce excused juror 548 after he told Judge Boyce his work policy only covers 14 days for jury duty.
This is not uncommon for high-profile trials that are expected to last an extended period of time, according to Brownson.
"It could be a financial hardship for somebody to serve on a jury for, you know, several weeks, let alone a month, let alone two months," Brownson said. "So, unless you're reimbursed by your employer or retired, it really limits your jury pool. [College] students are typically unable to serve. People certainly living paycheck to paycheck."
The state of Idaho compensates people serving jury duty with $5 for half a day and $10 for a whole day, according to the Idaho State Supreme Court. Jurors are also compensated for the milage they must travel to the courthouse.
"They're probably provided lunch while serving on the jury. But I am not sure you could buy lunch or dinner on 5 dollars anymore," Brownson said.
Potential jurors are summoned at random from a pool of U.S. Citizens that are at least 18 years old and have a drivers license or state ID card. Registered voters are also included in the pool.