White v. Gaetz

SIMON, District Judge.

When a trial judge looks out over the courtroom and sees no one sitting there, it presents a practical problem when he or she is trying to complete jury selection. Illinois deals with this problem with a “bystander” venire statute which authorizes the judge to order the local sheriff to round up people and bring them to court so that jury selection can be completed. This process was used to select the final juror in the trial of Jeffrey White in which he was convicted of first degree murder. In this appeal from the denial of a habeas corpus petition brought pursuant to…