Girardi’s legal team argued in a recent motion that the publicity surrounding the case requires jurors to be questioned individually, and that a court-issued questionnaire would shorten the in-courtroom voir dire process.
In arguing against a questionnaire, prosecutors said cases cited by Girardi to support one were not comparable. They also pointed to other high-profile cases in the Central District of California and elsewhere where judges rejected the need for a juror questionnaire, including criminal corruption cases for former Los Angeles City Councilmembers Jose Huizar and Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Prosecutors also said that much of Girardi’s motion focuses on his estranged wife, who is not scheduled to be called as a witness.
“A fulsome voir dire process is certainly necessary in this trial; however, the court already has in place sufficient protocols to ensure a fair and impartial jury without expending the additional resources,” prosecutors said in the motion.
The government is represented by E. Martin Estrada, Mack E. Jenkins, Scott Paetty, and Ali Moghaddas of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
