re: Tales from Jury Duty . . .

quote:

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The creepiest part is sitting there at the end in silence while you and your team look us over and pass that piece of paper back and forth while pointing at us and whispering as you pick your prized cows out of the herd.

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Early on we used to announce our challenges in the presence of the jury. The problem with this method is that we might use a jury panel for six months or so and if you had the opportunity to select that person at a later trial you never knew whether that person might hold it against you since you had previously struck them. I tell jurors during voir dire, and it is true, that just because they are not selected for a trial is not a slight to them as we may feel they are not right for that particular case (and of course we can be wrong about that). But you never know.

Now, in federal court and in some state courts including our local ones, court staff plays "white noise" during bench conferences when the attorneys and judge are speaking about issues including challenges to jurors so the discussion cannot be heard by the jury. Beware the lip-readers though.

Technology has made so many aspects of the trial process infinitely better.

Reservoir Dawg made a good point about attorneys knowing a lot about the prospective jurors prior to the time that they are even questioned by counsel. In cases where a lot of money is at stake it is not uncommon to employ a team of professionals to aid in selecting the "right" juror.