The unique circumstances surrounding Huawei Technologies’ landmark trial in a US court made jury selection especially important to ensuring a fair trial for the Chinese tech giant, according to US litigation experts. Known as voir dire, the process allows the presiding judge and two legal teams to question prospective jurors before the trial begins to identify possible bias and conflicts that could impede their ability to adjudicate the case in a “fair and impartial” way. Richard Gabriel, president of litigation strategy firm Decision Analysis, said the high-profile nature of the case, eight years in the making, and its links to both China and Iran elevated the stakes of voir dire for both sides.“Given the nature of the case, its pre-trial publicity and potential international ramifications, they seemed to want to ask [prospective jurors] many questions to get a better sense of where they are coming from,” he said, referring to a questionnaire that was circulated among hundreds of prospective jurors before the trial. Consisting of more than 80 questions, the questionnaire was even longer than usual for such criminal cases, as both sides were likely eager to extract as much information about the jurors as possible, said Gabriel, co-author of Jury Strategy and Science. These included questions about whether jurors had “strong opinions” about the Communist Party or personal or professional ties to China. The US government has charged Huawei with 12 criminal counts, including violations of US sanctions on Iran and theft of trade secrets from US rivals such as T-Mobile and Cisco.其中一些指控属于一项总括性的敲诈勒索共谋罪名。如果根据美国《反勒索及受贿组织法》（RICO）被定罪，华为将被认定为“犯罪企业”。该法于20世纪70年代首次适用于黑手党组织。华为否认所有指控。

陪审团遴选程序早在9月8日审判开始之前就已启动，因为双方法律团队花了数月时间就纳入哪些问题反复磋商。

在纽约东区审理此案的美国地区法官安·唐纳利敲定了问题，并在陪审团遴选日进行了追问。

在双方法律团队行使“无因回避”后——他们可以无需给出任何理由，排除一定数量的、其认为对本方不利的陪审员——最终选出了由12名陪审员和6名替补陪审员组成的陪审团。

“与其挑选你想要的陪审员，不如排除你不想要的陪审员。双方都这么做，最终有望得到一个大致持中间立场的群体，”加布里埃尔说。

他指出，在美国与中国和伊朗关系紧张的背景下，华为的法律团队很可能专注于找出对中国或伊朗有偏见的潜在陪审员。

他说，鉴于这起刑事案件没有个人受审的“不寻常”性质，辩方将试图让陪审员相信，像华为这样的大公司难免会有一些多年来行为不当的不守规矩员工，并补充说，该公司可能的策略是让公司在陪审员眼中更具人情味。

During opening statements last Wednesday, Huawei’s lawyer began his remarks by describing how company founder Ren Zhengfei built the world’s largest telecoms company from his flat nearly 40 years ago.“The delicate balance for the defence is to admit that, yes, some employees may have crossed the line, but this is not a companywide conspiracy,” said Gabriel. “This way, there’s an acknowledgement of some accountability while dismissing the overall charge.” Meanwhile, the prosecution will focus on convincing jurors that Huawei had masterminded a long-running criminal enterprise, said David Barnard, director of jury consulting at Magna Legal Services. In their opening statement last week, a US government lawyer accused Huawei of running a “far-reaching criminal scheme” over decades.加布里埃尔表示，鉴于人们认为纽约居民更偏自由派，联邦检方可能还担心陪审员会对现任政府领导下的美国政府抱有偏见。

“尤其是如今，人们对特朗普执政时期的司法部有很多看法，也在质疑是否存在对其他国家和公司的政治针对，”他说。

巴纳德表示，政治化观感意味着，检方不太可能着力把华为作为中国公司的身份用作案件基础。

“通常情况下，陪审员会拒绝这种策略，因为他们想做好自己的工作。如果陪审员觉得（检方）是在依赖这类策略……这不太可能引起陪审员共鸣，反而会招致反弹，”他说。

“根据我观察数百名陪审员评议以及在审判后与陪审员交谈的经验，常常能显现出来的是，陪审员确实想做正确的事，而这通常意味着按照他们自己所理解的法律来适用法律。”审判预计将持续到12月。