Appendix E -1 Prosecution's Motion for Empanelment of an Anonymous Jury

• Library: How to Try a Murder Case: Pretrial and Trial Guidelines for Prosecution and Defense (ABA) (2011 Ed.)

APPENDIX E-1 Prosecution's Motion for Empanelment of an Anonymous Jury

Comes now the United States of America, by and through its undersigned attorneys, and respectfully requests that the Court, for the reasons stated below, empanel an anonymous jury for the trial of this matter.

Applicable Law

A District Court has wide discretion to empanel an anonymous jury in a case where the Court finds that a person's life or safety may be in jeopardy. In such a case, numbers may be used for purposes of identifying members of the jury, in lieu of names. United States v. Lightfoot, 250 F.3d 630, 635 (8th Cir. 2001); United States v. Darden, 70 F.3d 1507, 1532 (8th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1149 (1996). In such a case, the parties should be provided with the names and places of residence of each member of the panel prior to trial; the Court may explain to the jurors that numbers—instead of their names— are being used to protect their privacy and to reduce the possibility that the media or others might try to contact them. Lightfoot, supra, 250 F.3d at 635.

The factors to be evaluated in deciding whether to empanel an anonymous jury include:

1. The defendant's involvement in organized crime;
2.

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