Kwame Kilpatrick trial: Jury members breakdown, history

Jury in trial against former Detroit mayor includes 4 men, 8 women

Empty jury chairs (WDIV, ClickOnDetroit.com)

DETROIT – With the 4th day of jury deliberations in the Kwame Kilpatrick federal corruption trial currently underway, it's interesting to take a look at the evolution of this jury from its inception.

Jury selection formally began on Thursday, Sept. 6. By Sept. 18, 64 potential jurors qualified for peremptory challenges.

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On Sept. 19, 12 jurors and six alternates were finally selected. The jury consisted of nine women and three men. Racially, there were four white women, two white men, one Hispanic woman, four African-American women and one African American man.

Week two of the trial saw two jurors relieved of jury duty. On the Tuesday of the 2nd week of trial, Juror No. 4, a white woman, was dismissed because, as Judge Nancy Edmunds explained, "she had some issues with being as attentive as she needed to be."

Just two days later, alternate No. 5 also was excused so suddenly there were only four alternates remaining.

Despite repeated illness, no other jurors were lost in the course of the trial.

On Friday, Feb. 15, after the government completed its rebuttal and Judge Edmunds gave her final instructions to the jury on the deliberations to the jury, the four alternates were finally excused by an emotional judge who thanked them for their time and service.

The dismissed alternates were told they no longer had to report to the Theodore Levin U.S. courthouse but could not speak with media in case one of the remaining jurors dropped out during deliberations.

If for any reason one of the jurors drops out during the course of deliberations, they would be replaced by an alternate and deliberations would have to start all over again.

The jury currently deliberating the fates of Kwame Kilpatrick, Bobby Ferguson and Bernard Kilpatrick is comprised of eight women and four men. The racial breakdown is three white women, three white men, four black women, one black man and one Hispanic woman.

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