Legal News

Potential Raj Jurors In Court To Fill Out ?Hardship? Questionnaires

By Chad Bray

About 300 potential jurors were expected in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday morning to fill out questionnaires in the insider-trading trial of hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.

Jury selection begins in earnest next week, but U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell opted to bring in jurors Wednesday to answer a relatively simple questionnaire on whether it would  be a hardship to serve on the panel.

As a reminder, Rajaratnam is accused of making improper trades based on alleged tips about companies obtained from insiders and others. The trial on conspiracy and securities fraud charges, which begins March 8,  is expected to last six to eight weeks.

He has denied wrongdoing.

Rajaratnam’s lawyers had originally proposed using a 16-page questionnaire to vet jurors, including questions about their feelings on Wall Street executives. Prosecutors had objected to a lengthy questionnaire.

Questionnaires have been used in a number of high-profile cases in federal court in Manhattan, including Martha Stewart’s 2004 trial on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges and the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in the U.S.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 02, 2011 (boomark / email).