On the third day of the incident, at 2 p.m. E.D.N.Y in Court No. 10.

It's still the prosecutor — Brooklyn learns when he gets the indictment that his name is Coulson, Coulson Phil.

It's still Judge Anna.

It's still the same dock.

The difference is that behind him, countless media are in attendance, they are holding long guns and short cannons, and they are excitedly broadcasting everything here to the whole federation in real time.

To his right, on the jury bench, 40 reserve jurors were seated.

They will select 11 jurors from 40 reserve jurors to form a jury and accompany the case to the end. [Note 1]

Brooklyn was charged with first-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of death, and under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the parties were allowed to make 20 no-cause choices.

In Brooklyn's view, jury selection is a BP game in disguise, in which both sides will try to pick those who are good for themselves to stay, and exclude those who are not good for themselves. At the same time, try to protect those who are not good for the other party from being excluded.

At the announcement of the judge's assistants, everyone stood up, and Judge Anna, dressed in a black robe, entered the hall to announce the official start of the jury selection.

"Who in this room owns a gun?"

Prosecutor Coulson, who was the first to screen, asked, standing in front of the jury frame.

There was a moment of silence, and the seven members of the 14th, 22nd, 23rd, 31st, 33rd, 39th, and 40th Preparatory Spraying Divine Order, raised their hands.

"The parties accept the 7 jurors"

Brooklyn did not object.

Choosing a member with a gun is a very basic choice, and statistically speaking, people with guns are more likely to hate crime, which is a more favorable option for the prosecution. [Note 2]

But Brooklyn wasn't going to dwell on whether to commit a crime or not, because he didn't commit a crime in the first place.

"Who has ever been harassed by their boss and fought back?"

Coulson continued.

No. 1 and No. 5 hesitated for a moment and raised their hands.

"The prosecution accepts these two jurors."

With that, Coulson stopped picking and returned to his seat.

Brooklyn gave Coulson a deep look, slowly got up, and walked to the jury.

Coulson's previous question didn't affect Brooklyn, but the latter made him suspect that the prosecution had other ideas.

His gaze scanned around the jury bench and asked

"Who are you here who are married or have been married?"

More than half of the 40 jurors raised their hands.

"The day-to-day expenses in the marriage are borne by the other party?"

Nearly half of them lowered their hands.

"Your Excellency, the defense requests that they be excluded."

Judge Anna glanced at Coulson, saw that Coulson had no objection, and nodded in agreement.

Nearly 20 people left the table, and the jury was suddenly empty.

Brooklyn pulled out a candle and placed it in front of the jury frame.

"Yesterday when I went to buy a candle, I had a little disagreement with the clerk, I wanted to buy a candle with a sandalwood scent, and the clerk gave it to me."

Brooklyn played with the candle, sniffed it to his nose, and continued

"But I'm pretty sure it's a vanilla-scented candle. But the clerk insisted that it was sandalwood-scented. To find out if it was vanilla or sandalwood, I bought it. ”

"This morning, I asked a few of my neighbors and they told me with certainty that I was wrong and that it was sandalwood. I'd like to ask you to help me identify what it tastes like. ”

With that, Brooklyn handed the candle to the lady in front of her.

This is a young lady dressed modestly in a retro floral dress. She bowed her head slightly, her legs together, her palms resting on her knees, clutching uneasily.

When making eye contact with Brooklyn, she would quickly look away, and after taking the candle, she cautiously leaned under her nose and sniffed, whispering

"It's... The clerk was right... It does seem to be scented with sandalwood. ”

Brooklyn kept his eyes on the lady, smiling gracefully, and tilted his head slightly after receiving an answer, motioning for her to pass back—he had noticed the lady for a long time.

This is a juror who has no opinion at heart, and is easily swayed by other people's opinions.

Brooklyn deliberately chose her as the first to judge the taste of the candle with no added spices at all, just to give the people who came after her a good start.

The candle was passed back and forth in the hands of the jurors, each of whom would give an answer after smelling it, and when it was finally handed back to Brooklyn, as many as 13 of the two dozen or so jurors left gave an answer about sandalwood.

Only 3 jurors gave vanilla answers.

The remaining seven people looked puzzled and had no answers.

"The defense accepts jurors 1, 9, 15, 22, 23, 31 and 40 and excludes others."

Brooklyn put the candle away and said to Judge Anna.

"The jury in the case of 10-EDNY10-071 State v. Brooklyn Lee First-Degree Murder will consist of 11 jurors 1, 5, 9, 14, 15, 22, 23, 31, 33, 39, 40, 11. Nos. 20 and 26 were selected as alternate jurors, and Nos. 2 and No. 3 were ...... No. 38, thank you for your participation, you can leave. ”

Seeing that neither prosecution nor defense had a request to continue the selection, Judge Anna announced.

Alternate jurors are literally substitutes in order to prevent jury members from being unable to perform their duties during the course of the trial.

Coulson's reaction was expected in Brooklyn.

He later chose people with the ability to discern right from wrong, and they sensed that the smell of candles did not match what Brooklyn and the people around him had described, and although they didn't bring it up, they didn't follow it. This is also the juror that prosecutors need.

And Brooklyn picked them for a deeper purpose.

These people will not immediately draw conclusions when they suddenly receive information that is completely contrary to common sense, and they will judge the credibility of new information more rationally.

That would lay a solid foundation for Brooklyn's next plea — at least they wouldn't be able to conclude that Brooklyn was guilty as soon as they heard the prosecution's physical testimony.

Coulson may not have failed to see his intentions, but it was an outcome acceptable to both parties. If he has to oppose and continue to pester, Brooklyn will be with him to the end.

The remaining jurors left the venue in a huff and quickly walked away. The jury bench, which had only 11 members, was immediately relaxed.

As Brooklyn expected, the trial did not end after the jury was selected, but went straight to the trial.

The trial session is a storytelling session, in which both sides take turns throwing out evidence, cross-examining the evidence, and then constantly revising their own stories until both sides run out of evidence.

The previous series of procedures were all appetizers, and from now on, the case officially entered the main meal.

Brooklyn sat alone in the dock, calmly watching as Coulson stood up and began to tell his "story."

By this time, the media had noticed the unusual nature of the trial, and they exchanged whispers, and the voices of dozens or hundreds of people chatting filled the No. 10 courtroom, buzzing.

Judge Anna had to bang her gavel repeatedly, shouting "keep quiet" to keep the courtroom in order.

The reporters quickly quieted down, and Brooklyn listened to the conversation behind him, and the smile on his face finally took on a little sincerity.

Concentrate:

1. For details of the rules for the selection of jury members, see Article 24 of the "U.S. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure".

2. I don't know what the hell this data is, but it seems that the statistics show that this is the case.