Jury seated for the first trial

The jury for the first 8 defendants was seated at 1:50 pm. The jury pool included one TCD member who,unsurprisingly, was removed via the prosecutors. One of the potential jurors also stood up and asked why the city doesn't just revoke the permit of the Columbus Day organizers because it causes too much strife in the city. He was removed. Another person said she never gave it much thought, but after seeing the reports of the arrests on television, she thought it over and felt like it was disrespectful to indigenous peoples. She was removed as well.

The defense also won 2 Batson Challenges in the jury selection. This is the definition of the Batson Challenge

Main Entry: Bat·son challenge

Etymology: from Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), the Supreme Court ruling that prohibited the striking of jurors on a racial basis
: an objection in which one party argues that the other has used the peremptory challenge to strike one or more prospective jurors from the panel for a discriminatory purpose in violation of the equal protection guarantee of the U.S. Constitution called also Batson objection

The city could not articulate why they wanted to remove a Latino Woman and another lady of American Indian ancestry. The judge sustained the defense's Batson objection.

The opening arguements are set to begin at 2:50 pm. We'll have another update this evening.