AP: Stevens jury shows senator he's far from Alaska

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Stevens jury shows senator he's far from Alaska

AP foreign, Wednesday September 24 2008

By MATT APUZZO

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - By the time the jury box was full
Wednesday in Sen. Ted Stevens' corruption trial, it was
clear the Senate's longest-serving Republican was a long
way from home. Stevens failed in his bid to transfer the
trial to Alaska, where he has been a figure in politics
for generations and where he is known fondly as "Uncle
Ted."

Instead, he will face trial in Washington, where one
juror after another said they knew nothing of Stevens
or the FBI investigation that has swirled around him
for more than a year.

-snip-

Rather than standing trial in one of the nation's most
reliably Republican states, Stevens saw the 11 women
and five men jurors and alternates selected from a
heavily Democratic district.

The differences also extend to demographics. Twelve of
the 16 jurors on the panel - which includes four alternates
- are black. In Alaska, fewer than 4 percent of residents
are black.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7823809

[grannie4peace]

1. sink him!!!!

[suffragette]

2. I'd love to see a SwampRat image of Stevens, Palin and Toto

with the caption "Toto, I don't think we're in Alaska anymore."

[sinkingfeeling]

3. If the verdict is guilty, he'll appeal because the jury wasn't made up of his peers!

[Mabus]

4. Sounds like a fair and inpartial jury has been selected

He's a goner.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. If he were being tried in Alaska

the jury pool would have contained many more Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Alaska Natives. Here's the Anchorage Daily News link to the jury story http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/535184.html and specifically this paragraph...

And someone who might have watched jury selections in Anchorage would observe a surprising lack of diversity for cosmopolitan Washington. Anchorage jury pools often reflect the rich ethnic and racial diversity there, where more than 80 languages are the native tongues of students in the school district or their families. The Washington that showed up in Sullivan's courtroom was almost exclusively biracial -- African American and white. A single Asian -- a female lawyer -- was among the pool, along with a man who might have been Hispanic.



I'm just clarifying the record on a misperception I've read here at DU and elsewhere that Alaska is somehow "lily white" and ethnically homogeneous. Nothing could be further from the truth.

[Retrograde]

6. Good point on diversity

The ethnic makeups of Western states aren't like those of the Eastern ones: the MSM has somehow gotten it into its collective mind that Minority = African American, ignoring the large numbers of people with Asian, Pacific Islands, or Mexican/Central American ancestry, which are a much larger percentage of the population in my state than those of African ancestry.

[orleans]

7. ha! fu uncle ted. n/t

[ThomWV]

8. How suprised he is going to be to discover that Senators go to jail for taking bribes

It should come as quite a rude awakening for him, though I have to say it pleases me a great deal. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahah.