JOE McGINNISS

Jury selection in the trial of David Oppenheim slowed to a snail’s pace on Wednesday, as only one juror was seated from among the twenty-three called.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a sign that the justice system is working, not that it’s not.

Hampshire County Superior Court judge Mary-Lou Rup would rather be safe than sorry.

The real world is neither LA Law nor Law and Order, nor Boston Legal.

To each new prospective juror, Judge Rup mentions prior media coverage of the case and asks, in addition, whether the very nature of the charges–Oppenheim, the thirty-eight year-old founder and former director of the Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton, is accused of having had various forms of sex between October, 2005 and June, 2007 with a student/intern who was under the age of sixteen–would prevent the prospective juror from being impartial, fair, open-minded and unbiased.

More than a third of those called to serve have been excused on grounds of pre-existing bias, the result either of media coverage or of the graphic nature of the charges.

Tomorrow will be the fourth day on which Judge Rup asks the same questions of a jury panel.

That’s what caused one spectator who’s been in court since Monday to remark, “This is like Groundhog Day.”

Yes, it’s the same questions and the same procedures each day. But that’s how the justice system should work.

The stakes are high. Care should be taken during the process of jury selection.

Though theatrical elements are certainly a part of any courtroom proceeding, this is not a television program scripted with ratings in mind.

Judge Rup is doing all she can to be sure that the jury that will eventually hear the case–twelve jurors and four alternates–will be able to render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court.

If it takes a week instead of a day to seat such a jury, the time will not have been wasted.

We live in a hurry-up world, with no time for down time.

One observer commented today, “This is like watching paint dry. If Judge Carhart [Judd J. Carhart, a former Superior Court judge recently appointed to the state Appeals Court] was hearing this case, they’d be on their fourth or fifth witness by now.”

But I find it reassuring that in the real world of 15 Gothic Street both prosecution and defense, as well as the judge, place a premium on the selection of an unbiased jury, no matter how long the process takes.

By the time the jury renders its verdict, nobody will remember how long the selection process took.

Elmore Leonard once attributed the success of his novels to his ability to “leave the boring parts out.”

I try to do the same in my writing.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not important, especially in the very real world of 15 Gothic Street.