A few thoughts on juries

Just a quick post. While (one of) the “Trial(s) of the Century(ies)” kicked off today, I saw a lot of discussion about the jury selection process and thought I’d share some thoughts as a former Jury Commissioner.

Jury selection is tough.

First, a good judge will give the jurors clear instructions about their role and the necessity to be fair and impartial. A lot of people come to jury selection talking about how they’ll lie to get out of it. And, sure, some (probably) do. But a lot of people get really honest really quick after the judge’s instruction (so if someone says they can’t be fair and impartial, I’d give them the benefit of the doubt).

The selection process can be grueling - it depends on the attorneys asking questions. I’ve seen defense attorneys or prosecutors ask 2-3 questions in 3-4 minutes and some ask 5 questions in an hour. I once sat through a selection that involved individual voir dire of thirty prospective jurors. It took two days. (It was the third trial after two mistrials with an out-of-County judge brought in to favor impartiality.)

It’s not a perfect process but with a good structure it helps to provide a (I know this can be loaded) fair trial for someone presumed to be innocent.

Regardless of what we all think we know or see about the case, the jurors see all the evidence and are given the instructions from the judge on what the prosecution’s burden is.

The drawing of prospective jurors, at least where I served, is truly random. The list to build the pool is pulled from several sources and dumped into a database refreshed every year. It’s a subsection of the population, not the entirety of the population in the district.

From there, the drawing of prospective jurors is then a random pool from the initial random pool. To get to selection day, this list is then whittled down to whatever the judge’s instructions are (through sickness, deaths, etc.).

The one thing I always encourage is this: if you’re called for juror duty, go. Whether you’re excused right away, are never called up, or serve in a trial, it is an educational experience fundamental to the justice system.