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[Jim Choate <ravage@einstein.ssz.com>]

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              MCVEIGH CASE COULD SET PRECEDENT FOR JURY ANONYMITY
                                       
      jurors.sketch
     
     April 13, 1997
     Web posted at: 4:01 p.m. EDT (2001 GMT)
     
     From Correspondent Susan Candiotti
     
     DENVER (CNN) -- Unless they decide to tell the world, the jurors who
     decide the fate of accused bomber Timothy McVeigh may remain forever
     anonymous.
     
     Trial Judge Richard Matsch assigned each jury candidate a number,
     and permanently sealed their records. But he has gone even further
     to protect their identities, ordering a partition to hide the jury
     box from the view of most courtroom spectators.
     
     For example, reporters must sit on one side of the court, where it's
     impossible to see behind the wall. matsch
     
     Georgetown University law professor Paul Rothstein says Matsch "has
     gone a little overboard."
     
     Unless there is evidence of danger or threat to the jurors, he says,
     "the presumption should be for an open trial in every respect,
     including being able to view the jurors."
     
     But Andrew Wolfberg, who served on the jury for the trial of Eric
     and Lyle Menendez, says protecting jurors' identities in the
     Oklahoma City bombing trial is important.
     
     "I think with this trial, there involved the death of many people
     ... which can in some way cause the jury to feel they have something
     to fear from this defendant," he said.
     
     In high-profile cases such as the O.J. Simpson trial, jurors' names
     are protected until the trial is over. And where TV coverage is
     allowed, faces are not shown on camera. mcveigh.jury
     
     Despite the secrecy, once the trial was over, some Simpson trial
     jurors hired agents, wrote books and hit the talk show circuit.
     
     Despite Matsch's caution and concern, some observers say he might be
     setting a precedent.
     
     "It's turning our system of justice upside down," says Jane Kirtley
     of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "Because what
     it means is that the public really has no idea of who is sitting in
     judgment of people accused of heinous crimes."
     
     Decisions like Matsch's, opponents like Kirtley say, deny the
     public's right to "know" who sits on a high-profile jury. OKC Trial
     Special Section 
     
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