Kansas City, Mo. — Potential jurors in the Robert R. Courtney trial will answer detailed questions about their knowledge of the case and whether they know Courtney's family, a federal magistrate ruled Monday.
Courtney, 49, faces 20 felony counts of tampering with drugs mixed at his Research Medical Tower Pharmacy.
The 11-page questionnaire will be mailed to prospective jurors during a process known around the courthouse as the "cattle call." Members of the jury pool will answer the questions before they show up for jury selection in Courtney's trial, scheduled for March 11.
Courtney's attorneys had wanted an 18-page questionnaire, but many of their questions were trimmed because U.S. Magistrate Robert Larsen felt they would "cause undue delay and expense" in the trial.
The form approved Monday includes questions about whether jurors know Courtney, his wife, children, or father, whether they're acquainted with his pharmacy, and whether they can ignore what they've heard about the case through the media.
It also asks, "Have you or your spouse, significant other, close friend, or anyone else in your family ever been diagnosed with and/or treated for cancer?"
Questionnaires are common in jury selection for federal trials, but they take on added significance in high-profile cases like Courtney's.
After the questionnaires are filled out, prospective jurors will be summoned to the courthouse, where some will be picked as jurors and some excused based on questioning in the courtroom and their responses on the questionnaires.
Larsen is still considering whether to recommend moving the trial out of Kansas City because of concerns that pretrial publicity might have tainted the jury pool.
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