ST. LOUIS — Are you able to put your feelings about the George Floyd case aside?
Do you think your participation in Black Lives Matter protests could cloud your judgement in this case?
Can you separate what you’ve read and heard about this case in the media from what you hear in this courtroom?
These were among the questions that prosecutors and defense attorneys peppered potential jurors with Monday, the first day of a retrial for two former St. Louis officers accused of assaulting one of their own.
In all, five officers were federally indicted on charges related to the assault of officer Luther Hall. The officers accused of assaulting him are white. Hall is Black.
The City of St. Louis settled a civil case with Hall for $5 million. He testified during the March trial he suffered permanent injuries during the assault. His injuries include a ruptured gallbladder and injuries to his neck required surgery to repair.
On Monday, potential jurors were also asked about their own experiences with law enforcement during prior arrests or arrests involving friends or loved ones. Some potential jurors included police officers, corrections officers, spouses or other relatives of police officers.
Hall was working undercover as a protester in 2017 following the acquittal of a white St. Louis police officer who had been charged with the murder of a Black man following a pursuit.
Two of the officers accused of assaulting Hall have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
The other three went on trial in March, which resulted in an acquittal for one of them and a partial verdict for Christopher Myers and a hung jury for Dustin Boone.
Myers is still facing a destruction of evidence charge, for allegedly destroying Hall’s cellphone. Hall captured some of the assault on his cellphone, and prosecutors are alleging Myers destroyed it to conceal evidence of the attack.
Boone is again facing a deprivation of civil rights charge, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
On Monday, the jury selection process began with 90 potential jurors divided into three groups.
Jury selection during the first trial in March was controversial.
The Eastern District of Missouri draws from 13 rural and mostly white counties as well as the City of St. Louis. Those include Crawford, Dent, Franklin, Gasconade, Jefferson, Lincoln, Maries, Phelps, St. Charles, St. Francois, Warren, Washington and St. Louis counties.
During the first trial, defense attorneys were able to seat an all-white jury. Prosecutors tried to quash the jury panel, accusing defense attorneys of striking only Black jurors on the basis of their race alone.
Defense attorneys successfully argued they had legit reasons for striking them from the panel, and U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry reluctantly agreed.
Ultimately, one of the alternate jurors was a Black woman, who ended up on the final jury after one of the jurors was dismissed for a personal emergency.
This time around, Perry has recused herself because of a family medical emergency and U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber is overseeing the case.
Another difference between the original trial and this one includes the admission of racist text messages Boone received and sent to friends about other arrests he was involved with, in which he talks about using violence, as well as texts he exchanged with his girlfriend about the attack on Hall.
Also during this trial, jurors will see a video in which Myers tries to hide his identity from someone who was filming him.
Prosecutors said the trial is expected to last about two weeks, which is the same amount of time the first trial took. Jury selection is expected to continue Tuesday.