The pool of prospective jurors for the ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is beginning to look more like the melting pot America is.
Jim Schafer and Teresa Baldas of the Detroit News reported that the " jury pool grew even more diverse Friday with the addition of three very different people: a self-identified gay man who expressed empathy for victims of discrimination, a Middle Eastern woman who likes NPR and speaks several languages, and an African-American man whose relative's pit bulls were killed during a police raid."
At the end of the day Friday, there were 55 people in the jury pool, which included i13 African Americans and at least half a dozen other minorities, the Freep reported. Three of the defendants in the case are African Americans. One is Hispanic.
The goal is to get 66 before the pool is trimmed to 12 jurors and six alternates.
Before jury selection began, Kilpatrick complained that there weren't enough African-American jurors in the federal court cases in Detroit.
Opening statements are slated to begin on Thursday.
