During opening day of jury selection, defendant Jeremy Christian opted to wear his blue jail scrubs in Multnomah County Circuit Court, noting that he didn’t care if he was found guilty or innocent.
“I don’t care how much time I get in prison, if I’m found guilty or innocent,” Christian said in court Tuesday. “All I care is that the public gets to see and hear what happened on the train.”
Christian is charged with stabbing three men, killing two of them onboard a Portland MAX lightrail train May 26, 2017. Court documents and witnesses have said Christian was shouting racist comments in the moments before the stabbings while two African American women were nearby — one wearing a hijab.
Under Oregon law, Christian is allowed to wear civilian clothing in the presence of potential jurors, something Judge Cheryl Albrecht spelled out in detail.
Related: Jury Selection For Jeremy Christian Trial Set To Begin Tuesday
She told Christian he was allowed to wear dress pants, a shirt, shoes and a belt. The purpose, Albrecht said, was to reduce any potential stigma jurors may have toward seeing an incarcerated defendant in jail scrubs and preserve the presumption of innocence.
Christian ultimately declined.
“I understand to be held against my will,” he said.
On Jan. 10, prospective jurors filled out lengthy questionnaires. Based on their responses, some jurors will be called back into court over the course of the week.
On Tuesday morning, seven prospective jurors were led into a white marble, oak paneled courtroom on the third floor of Multnomah County’s courthouse. Eight more potential jurors were scheduled for the afternoon.
Albrecht read the 15-count indictment to the morning’s potential jurors, five women and two men. Albrecht told them Christian has pleaded not guilty and said the burden of proof in the case is on the state.
Over the course of several hours, the potential jurors were interviewed by one of Christian’s defense attorneys, Greg Scholl, and one of the prosecutors, Deputy District Attorney Don Rees.
The identities of the jurors were kept private. Instead, they were identified by letters and numbers.
Scholl went juror by juror, asking questions like what they thought of jury selection. He also highlighted parts of their written questionnaires.
Prospective juror A3 was a young man who said he negotiated car accident claims between attorneys and insurance companies.
The man said he didn’t watch local TV, but heard people died in 2017 when the incident occurred.
“I knew it was an awful event that occurred,” A3 said in court. “It was sad people died.”
A3 said he thought he would be a good juror in the case.
“How come?” Scholl asked.
“In my job I have to be impartial,” A3 said. “I have to look at the evidence. I’ve been doing it so long my brain is kind of mapped that way, to look at evidence.”
Rees asked his question to the group as a whole, waiting to see who responded.
He asked the group if there were limits to free speech.
“You have a right to protest,” potential juror E22 said. “You have a right to protest for what you believe in as long as it’s not hurting people.”
Other jurors nodded in agreement.
At the defense's request, potential juror A16, was dismissed by Albrecht for cause. During questioning, A16 said he's been subjected to racism in the past and believes Christian is a racist.
“I’ve been called racial slurs a lot of my life,” A16 said during questioning. He said he thought he could remain impartial, but added it would be hard.
In the afternoon, five more potential jurors arrived to answer defense attorneys’ and prosecutors’ questions — this time three women and two men of varying ages.
One potential juror scheduled to arrive with the group did not appear, and the judge excused two others from the afternoon panel.
Christian’s other attorney, Dean Smith, questioned the panel on their thoughts on the justice system, self defense and free speech.
“We all have the right to walk away, turn the page, change the channel. We all have the choice to not listen if we don’t want to,” one of the potential jurors said in regard to questions about freedom of speech and differing opinions.
All potential jurors in the group said they would try to approach the trial thoughtfully and without bias, if selected.
None of those five potential jurors were excused by the judge at the end of the day.
The judge said jurors may not know if they have been picked for the case until the day before the trial.
Jury selection is scheduled to last the rest of the week, with opening statements set to begin Jan. 28.