A Minden man is behind bars charged with tampering with a jury after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Dominick J. Quatruopolo, 59, of the 8100 block of Dorcheat Road, was arrested Tuesday, June 16, and charged with jury tampering in a criminal case. Bond was set at $250,000.
According to reports, Quatruopolo was in court Tuesday and the warrant was served by Lt. Angela Evans, assisted by Deputies Daniel White and Eric Roby. The charge stems from an alleged incident on April 27 in his court case where he was charged with domestic abuse battery by strangulation.
Assistant District Attorney Marcus Patillo says Quatruopolo asked questions of potential jurors during the jury selection process, which is illegal.
“He was asking a potential juror some questions and asking her some other stuff with regards to his matter,” he said. “The (criminal) code says
it’s illegal. If you’re a potential juror and if you’re a defendant somebody that could possibly be on a jury, you can’t talk to them, bother them, nothing.”
He says it’s also not legal for the defendant’s attorney to question potential jury members unless it’s during the selection process. At the time the incident occurred, Patillo says his attorney was not present.
He explained the jury selection process is a two-part process where they do a roll call to make sure everyone is there, and then they call them into the courtroom. Potential jurors are not allowed to be questioned until they are called to the jury box for the voir dire process.
The voir dire process is where potential jurors in the jury box are questioned by the judge and attorneys to determine whether they can deal with issues fairly, Patillo says.
Quatruopolo was found not guilty of the domestic abuse battery charge.
However, he remains incarcerated at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center on the warrant at this time.