Michael Meets His Peers

THE JURY selection for the child- molestation trial of Michael Jackson held some surprises--most notably how quickly it was completed. Expected to last a month, it took just six court days for lawyers to settle on 12 jurors and eight alternates. There were surprises too in who was picked--and who was not. Of the eight women and four men sworn in as jurors, none are African American, seven are white, three Latino, one Asian and one race unknown. There is one African American among the alternates.

Polls have shown that blacks are more sympathetic to Jackson. But jury consultants scouring the panel say there are members who could be sympathetic to the pop star. A 21-year-old man in a wheel-chair who said he had visited Jackson's Neverland Ranch as a child expressed disgust at discrimination lawsuits brought against local restaurants by a disabled man. Jury consultant Sarah Murray thought that could presage a lack of sympathy for Jackson's accuser. That juror is "somebody who doesn't like it when people play the victim," says Murray. Another potential obstacle for the prosecution is a self-assured great-grandmother, 79, who proclaims herself a "Jeopardy freak" and a fan of her grandchildren's attempts at moonwalking. "If she's a rock in the middle of the jury who refuses to move and everything has to flow around her," says Murray, "that could be enough for the defense." --By Matt Kettmann