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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 653 Filed 04/01/22 Page 17 of 40

by several factors, among them the several hours that he had to wait in the courthouse’s security line, to wait in the room to hear the Court’s instructional video, and then to begin answering questions. And while he waited, he says, he was distracted by his thoughts on the recent end of a romantic relationship. Id. at 14 (“I didn’t have a phone, I didn’t have a book, I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs thinking about the break up that just happened a few weeks prior and sitting in my feelings and not very focused.”). That explanation is not only consistent with his other hearing testimony, but also with his sworn statements months earlier at oral voir dire. See Nov. 16, 2021 Voir Dire Tr. at 133 (stating that he “just got out of a relationship and I didn’t want to see anything regarding them”).

Distractions continued, and increased, as he neared the end of the questionnaire. Juror 50 testified that he was seated near the table where prospective jurors dropped off their completed questionnaires. As more potential jurors completed their questionnaires, the noise and bustle at that table increased. And as more potential jurors completed their questionnaires, he “felt rushed” to finish so that he would not be the last to turn in a questionnaire. Hearing Tr. at 18. Moreover, the Court credits Juror 50’s candid admission that he was not concerned with following the Court’s instructions, and did not proceed with “diligence,” because he had concluded that he would not be selected as a juror given the “sheer volume of people that were there.” Id. at 13, 18; see also id. at 40.

This explanation coheres with Juror 50’s testimony that his sexual abuse history was not a salient or front-of-mind consideration as he completed the questionnaire. He repeatedly testified that he does not often think about his sexual abuse. See, e.g., id. at 16, 22. The summary of the charges, which do not use the terms “abuse” or “assault” but explained that the Defendant had been charged with a total of six counts that involved “travel to engage in criminal

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