纽约-唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的历史性刑事审判将于周一开始，这是一个简单但非同寻常的程序步骤，对美国民主至关重要。一群普通公民——从法律角度来看是特朗普的同龄人——将被选出决定这位美国前总统是否有罪。
挑选陪审团的过程可能需要几天时间。案件双方的律师试图让陪审团朝着有利于他们的方向发展的机会有限，但法院的目标不会是确保民主党和共和党之间的党派平衡，也不会是由不知道此前有关审判的新闻报道的人组成。
这个想法是让人们愿意把个人意见放在一边，根据证据和法律做出决定。
以下是挑选陪审团的一些因素:
陪审团将只由居住在曼哈顿的人组成，曼哈顿是纽约市的五个行政区之一。所有18岁以上讲英语的美国公民，只要没有被判重罪，都有资格在纽约担任陪审员。法院官员从注册选民、纳税人、驾照持有者、公共福利接受者和其他来源的名单中确定潜在的陪审员。
特朗普审判的潜在陪审员将是随机挑选的。人们可以自愿担任陪审团成员，但他们不能选择自己参与的审判。
陪审团的职责是强制性的，但你可以以各种理由获得豁免，包括经济或医疗困难。
Juan M. Merchan法官将首先把一大群潜在的陪审员带入法庭。随后，他将简要概述案情，并向陪审团介绍被告特朗普。然后，法官将向潜在的陪审员提出一个关键问题:他们能公平公正地服务吗?不能回答的人将被要求举手。在这次审判中，表示自己无法提供服务或不公正的陪审员将被解雇。
那些留下来的人将被分组叫到陪审团席，在那里他们将被问42个问题，有些问题有多个部分。
每一方的律师将有有限的罢工次数，他们可以用来排除他们不喜欢的潜在陪审员，而不用给出理由。他们也可以主张某个特定的陪审员应该被排除在外，但必须让法官同意解雇这个人。
这一过程一直持续到选出12名陪审员和6名候补陪审员。如果需要，更多的潜在陪审员群体可以被带入法庭。
法官不允许律师询问潜在陪审员是民主党人还是共和党人，他们投了谁的票，或者他们是否给任何政治事业捐过钱。但有多个问题旨在找出人们是否可能对特朗普抱有偏见或支持特朗普。
其中包括:
“你是否有任何政治、道德、知识或宗教信仰或观点，可能会阻止你遵循法庭对法律的指示，或可能会使你对本案的态度有所偏差?”
“你、你的亲属或密友是否曾为特朗普总统竞选、特朗普总统政府或任何其他与特朗普先生有关联的政治实体工作或志愿服务过?”
“你是否参加过集会或竞选活动唐纳德·特朗普?”
“你目前在任何社交媒体网站上关注唐纳德·特朗普吗，或者你过去有没有这样做过?”
“你、你的亲戚或密友是否曾为任何反特朗普团体或组织工作或志愿服务?”
“你是否参加过任何反特朗普团体或组织的集会或竞选活动?”
“你目前是否在任何社交媒体网站上关注任何反特朗普的团体或组织，或者你过去是否这样做过?”
“你是否曾认为自己是以下任何组织的支持者或成员:卡农运动、骄傲男孩、Oathkeepers、百分之三、布加洛男孩、Antifa。”
陪审员将被问及他们听什么播客和谈话广播节目，以及他们从哪里得到他们的新闻。
法官下令对陪审员的姓名保密，这在审判中是一个不寻常但并非史无前例的步骤，因为陪审员有可能在审判期间或之后受到骚扰或威胁。没有什么可以阻止陪审员在审判结束后自愿谈论他们的经历。当它悬而未决时，他们不应该和任何人谈论它。
此次审判的陪审员将听取证词，并决定特朗普是否犯有34项伪造商业记录罪中的任何一项。他们定罪或无罪的决定必须是一致的。如果他们不能就判决达成一致，法官可以宣布审判无效。如果陪审员有理由怀疑特朗普有罪，他们必须判他无罪。如果他们判他有罪，决定判决的将是法官，而不是陪审员。
Here's how jury selection will work in Donald Trump's first criminal trial
NEW YORK --Donald Trump's history-making criminal trial is set to start Monday with a simple but extraordinary procedural step that is vital to American democracy. A group of regular citizens — Trump's peers, in the eyes of the law — will be chosen to decide whether the former president of the United States is guilty of a crime.
The process of picking a jury could take days. Lawyers on both sides of the case will have limited opportunities to try and shape the panel in their favor, but the court's goal won't be to ensure that it has a partisan balance between Democrats and Republicans, or is made up of people oblivious to previous news coverage about the trial.
The idea is to get people who are willing to put their personal opinions aside and make a decision based on the evidence and the law.
Here are some of the factors that will go into jury selection:
This jury will be made up only of people who live in Manhattan, one of New York City's five boroughs. All English-speaking, U.S. citizens over age 18 who have not been convicted of a felony are eligible for jury duty in New York. Court officials identify potential jurors from lists of registered voters, taxpayers, driver’s license holders, public benefit recipients and other sources.
The pool of potential jurors for Trump's trial will have been chosen at random. People can volunteer for jury duty, but they can't pick what trial they serve on.
Jury duty is compulsory, but you can get excused for a variety of reasons, including a financial or medical hardship.
Judge Juan M. Merchan will begin by bringing a large group of potential jurors into his courtroom. He will then give a brief outline of the case and introduce the defendant, Trump, to the jury. The judge will then ask the potential jurors a critical question: Can they serve and be fair and impartial? Those who cannot will be asked to raise their hand. For this trial, jurors who indicate they cannot serve or be fair will be dismissed.
Those who remain will be called in groups into the jury box, where they will be asked 42 questions, some with multiple parts.
The lawyers on each side will have a limited number of strikes they can use to exclude potential jurors who they don't like, without giving a reason. They can also argue that a particular juror should be excluded, but have to get the judge to agree to dismiss that person.
The process continues until 12 jurors and six alternates have been picked. More large groups of potential jurors can be brought into the courtroom, if needed.
The judge won't allow the lawyers to ask whether potential jurors are Democrats or Republicans, whom they voted for or whether they have given money to any political causes. But there are multiple questions aimed at rooting out whether people are likely to be biased against, or in favor of, Trump.
Among them:
“Do you have any political, moral, intellectual, or religious beliefs or opinions which might prevent you from following the court’s instructions on the law or which might slant your approach to this case?”
“Have you, a relative, or a close friend ever worked or volunteered for a Trump presidential campaign, the Trump presidential administration, or any other political entity affiliated with Mr. Trump?”
“Have you ever attended a rally or campaign event forDonald Trump?”
“Do you currently follow Donald Trump on any social media site or have you done so in the past?”
“Have you, a relative, or a close friend ever worked or volunteered for any anti-Trump group or organization?”
“Have you ever attended a rally or campaign event for any anti-Trump group or organization?”
“Do you currently follow any anti-Trump group or organization on any social media site, or have you done so in the past?”
“Have you ever considered yourself a supporter of or belonged to any of the following: The QAnon movement, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Boys, Antifa.”
Jurors will be asked what podcasts and talk radio programs they listen to and where they get their news.
The judge has ordered that the jurors’ names be kept secret, an unusual but not unprecedented step in trials where there is a potential that jurors might wind up being harassed or threatened during or after the trial. There is nothing to stop jurors from voluntarily talking about their experiences after the trial is over. While it is pending, they aren't supposed to talk about it to anyone.
Jurors in this trial will listen to testimony and decide whether Trump is guilty of any of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Their decision to convict or acquit must be unanimous. If they cannot agree on a verdict, the judge can declare a mistrial. If jurors have a reasonable doubt that Trump is guilty, they must acquit him. If they convict him, the judge will be the one who decides the sentence, not the jurors.
