Department of Justice: Sam Bankman-Fried's Proposed Jury Questions Raise Concerns
The US Department of Justice has expressed concerns over the proposed jury questions put forth by Sam Bankman-Fried, suggesting that they may be unnecessarily intrusive and potentially intended to support his defense.
In a letter addressed to Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, prosecutors claimed that several Bankman-Fried's proposed questions were intrusive.
They specifically called out queries that delved into potential jurors' opinions regarding FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed under allegations of fraud in November last year.
"The defense requests numerous open-ended questions about what opinions potential jurors have formed about the case, the defendant, and the defendant's companies, and asks whether potential jurors can 'completely ignore' what they have previously seen. This is unnecessarily intrusive and goes beyond the purpose of voir dire."
Prosecutors argued that questions related to effective altruism, which Bankman-Fried claims as his philosophical base, were not only unnecessary but also an attempt to shape a defense narrative suggesting that the defendant was accumulating wealth to improve the world.
They also deemed questions about Bankman-Fried's ADHD and related medication as irrelevant and prejudicial, emphasizing that no notice of a mental disease or condition defense had been provided within the court's imposed deadline.
Furthermore, the prosecution has requested specific technological arrangements for the trial, including a high-speed ethernet connection, a printer for government use, and headphones for the jury.
These provisions, as outlined in their letter to Judge Kaplan, are intended to facilitate the effective and efficient presentation of evidence during the
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