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Expert: Jury pool tainted

This story originally appeared January 19, 2007

By JESSICA LOGAN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jlogan@bakersfield.com | Friday, Feb 16 2007 12:22 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Feb 16 2007 12:22 PM

Adverse publicity poisoned the Kern County jury pool against Vincent Brothers and his case must be moved out of the county to ensure he gets a fair trial, a defense expert testified Thursday.

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Brothers, who is accused of murdering his three children, wife and mother-in-law, wants his case moved to Los Angeles County to ensure jurors have not already made up their mind based on voluminous pretrial publicity, according to a motion filed by the defense.

To prove their point, the defense hired a law and sociology professor, Edward Bronson, who has testified in other cases about where trials should be held.

Bronson said he surveyed citizens of Kern County who are eligible to serve on a jury. Half said they believe Brothers is guilty of murder and should be sentenced to death, the professor testified. While on the stand he did not disclose the sample size or other details about the survey.

White people are also more likely than black people to believe Brothers is guilty, Bronson said.

Defense attorney Anthony Bryan has already expressed concerns that blacks are underrepresented in the jury pool.

After dissecting more than 270 articles in The Californian, Bronson said the newspaper published inflammatory articles, editorials and headlines that would make it likely Brothers would not be able to get a fair trial in Kern.

He testified words the newspaper printed about the killings such as "massacre," "horrific" and "nightmare" inflamed the passions of the jury pool.

Bronson also said an editorial called the killings "evil" and encouraged people to take the killings personally. He testified that hurt Brothers' chances to get a fair trial here.

Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green believes the trial should remain in Kern County, according to paperwork she filed in court.

She could not expand on her thoughts about the motion outside of court because there is a gag order on the case.

Green said she needed more time to read the newspaper articles and view the television and radio clips pulled by the defense in support of the motion before she can question Bronson.

He will likely return to court next Friday to finish his testimony on the motion.

Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush said he does not want to rule on the motion until he reviews the questionnaires potential jurors filled out about their exposure to media coverage.

Earlier in the day, Bush ruled Green would not have to testify at trial as the defense requested.

Bush is scheduled to listen to other motions today.