Officer Chuck Cassidy was shot in 2007. John "Jordan" Lewis' jury is being chosen.
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Jury selection begins in John Lewis murder trial
For most people, the death penalty is an issue for a political campaign or a topic for talk radio.
But for a group of 100 Philadelphians yesterday, the death penalty became less abstract; they were asked if they could impose it.
It was the first day of jury selection in the trial of John "Jordan" Lewis, the 23-year-old North Philadelphia man accused of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy in 2007, and the death penalty was the issue on the table.
By day's end, defense and prosecution lawyers had selected three jurors from a pool of 100 to hear Lewis' murder and armed-robbery trial, a case that will require them to vote on whether to impose the death penalty if they find Lewis guilty of first-degree murder.
Jury selection resumes this morning with a new pool of 100 prospective jurors.
The potential jurors, each wearing a yellow "Juror" tag and holding a numbered card, sat in a large courtroom as Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart asked the question: "Do any of you have any moral, religious, or conscientious scruples that would be a reason you could not impose the death penalty?"
The hands of more than half the jurors rose. It was not a get-out-of-jury-duty-free card. Many of those jurors - their names were not used in court - were called back individually during the day to be questioned in more detail by Minehart and the defense and prosecution lawyers about their feelings.
And for some, the decision they might be asked to make took on a sobering reality.
One young woman told the judge that she had always supported the death penalty - until she stepped into that jury box for questioning. Eventually, after rounds of explanations from the attorneys and judge, she said she could impose the death penalty if warranted.
But the defense attorneys used what is known as a peremptory challenge - a limited number of chances to dismiss a potential juror for no reason - and she was excused.
Another prospective juror also told the judge that she always had supported the death penalty - until the recent death of her 29-year-old son.
"I just can't do this," she said, and she was also excused.
Generally, the prospective jurors appeared to reflect last month's annual Gallup Poll on capital punishment. Of the Americans who were polled, 65 percent said they supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while 31 percent said they opposed capital punishment.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Pennsylvania has 221 people on death row, a total trailing only those in California, Florida, and Texas.
Not all prospective jurors were excused because of the death penalty. A third were excused because of some personal hardship that made them unable to serve for a trial expected to last until Thanksgiving.
"Please keep in mind that this is a civic duty," Minehart told the jurors. "We're going to be sending more young men and women to the mountains of Afghanistan. That is the highest form of service."
One prospective juror was dismissed because of the death penalty, but not because he opposed it. The juror said he believed that anyone who murdered another person should automatically be executed.
Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985 or jslobodzian@phillynews.com.
