Before being convicted of felony securities fraud, smirking cartoon villain pharma-douche-bro Martin Shkreli had to be tried in front of a jury and this presented a unique problem because everyone hates Martin Shkreli, and thus more than 100 jurors were dismissed from the pool during pre-trial questioning. Here are some of the statements that led to those dismissals.
Be sure to read through to the end.
the court: Ma’am, we’re going to excuse you. Juror Number 52, how are you?
juror no. 52: When I walked in here today I looked at him, and in my head, that’s a snake — not knowing who he was. I just walked in and looked right at him and that’s a snake.
brafman: So much for the presumption of innocence.
the court: We will excuse Juror Number 52. Juror Number 67?
juror no. 67: The fact that he raised the price of that AIDS medication, like, such an amount of money disgusts me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that. Who does that, puts profit and self-interest ahead of anything else? So it’s not a far stretch that he could do what he’s accused of.
the court: Please go to the jury room and tell them you have been excused. Juror Number 70.
juror no. 70: I have total disdain for the man. When you go back to how he was able to put so many children —
the court: You have negative feelings?
juror no. 70: Very.
the court: Would those feelings prevent you from being fair to both sides in this case?
juror no. 70: I can be fair to one side but not the other.
Public Enemy
[Harper’s]
(via Naked Capitalism)