DxE investigator and animal rescuer Zoe Rosenberg is on trial in Sonoma County, California. She is facing years in jail for rescuing four sick and injured chickens from Perdue’s Petaluma Poultry slaughterhouse. All media requests to record the trial have been denied, but you can follow along through these Court Watch summaries, on our Perdue Rescue Trial X account, on our Instagram, and on UnchainedTV. Check back regularly for new updates. Want to take action? Sign the petition at RightToRescue.com and share the news with your friends and family.

Monday, September 29th

Jury selection continued today. All ~130 jurors who were not previously excused for hardship returned, and the more extensive process of voir dire began. In this process, the judge, the prosecution, and the defense get to ask the jurors questions about beliefs and experiences that would prevent them from being impartial. By the end of the day, a few jurors had been excused for ‘cause’ (meaning they were unable to be impartial), and no jurors were officially selected. Jury selection will continue tomorrow. 

Tuesday, September 30th

It’s day six of jury selection. The judge, the prosecution, and the defense continued to question prospective jurors about their views on animals and activism, and their ability to put aside prior beliefs and judgements and just make a decision based on the facts of the case. Three jurors were excused for cause or hardship, and both sides started using their 10 peremptory strikes (where they can remove a juror without a cause challenge). The defense used four, and the prosecution used one. New jurors were called from the pool into the box to fill their spots, and another round of questioning began. The day ended without a jury selected. 

Wednesday, October 1st

Judge Gnoss does not hold trial court on Wednesdays so we're off today.

Thursday, October 2nd

It’s day seven of jury selection. Judge Gnoss indicated it’s time to get back to peremptory strikes. The prosecution passed, meaning they accept the jury as is, and then, to most people’s surprise, the defense passed as well! That means that the jury was selected within the first five minutes of court today. The final jury pool is made up of five women and seven men. However, four alternates still needed to be selected. After a couple more rounds of jurors being called into the box and questioned by Judge Gnoss, Hobson, and Little, one juror was excused for cause and several others were excused with peremptory strikes. By 4:20pm, four alternates were selected and the full jury was confirmed. Judge Gnoss gave the jurors standard instructions and disclaimers and the court clerk read the full charging document to the jurors. They were instructed to return Monday afternoon for opening statements. Tomorrow will be used for pre-trial issues that are not discussed in front of the jury. 

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