Aug. 13 (UPI) – The case of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) will be tried by an anonymous jury and the verdict will be reached when the trial begins in September in federal court in New York.
Jury selection for Santos’ trial in federal court is scheduled to begin September 9, with 850 potential jurors available.
During a pretrial hearing on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert ruled that the names of the jurors would remain secret and that they would not be required to fill out questionnaires about their respective opinions of Santos, as his lawyers had requested.
Only prosecutors, Santos’ defense attorneys and the press have access to the names of the jurors.
Seybert ruled that requiring potential jurors to fill out questionnaires would slow down the trial process.
Instead of filling out questionnaires, Seybert said, lawyers and prosecutors could be allowed to ask questions of each potential juror, allowing each to ask different questions and dig deeper than would be possible with a standardized questionnaire.
On December 1, the House of Representatives expelled Santos from Congress after a House ethics committee found that he had violated federal and state laws.
Santos is charged with 23 counts of wire fraud, identity theft and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
His case is in the U.S. District Court for Eastern New York, where Santos represented parts of Queens and Nassau County.
Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and served as a member of the House of Representatives for about a year before his expulsion.
Santos and his lawyers attended the pretrial hearing Tuesday in federal court in Central Islip, Long Island.