Jury Selection - Really Deselection

You get a letter in the mail and it informs you that you need to be at the courthouse on a certain day and time to serve as a juror. You win!!! Make sure you show up on the right day and on time. It is also a good idea to take a book or something to do while waiting. It is a great thing in our country that we have the chance to serve as a juror and if you have ever been involved in a case it can be down right scary as to how the actual jury which hears the case is determined. First of all it is called jury selection, but that is completely wrong. It is actually jury de-selection. Attorneys get to argue to the Court that certain potential jurors are not suited for this particular case and they can be excused. They also get to strike (get rid of) a certain number of potential jurors just because we don't like a particular answer they gave or attitude even if there is not enough grounds to get rid of them for cause (evidence that they can't be completely fair in this trial). What does that mean -- fair? Not have any bias or prejudice. Not much help huh! The problem is it depends on the each case. A person may be a great juror in one case and terrible in another. If you had been robbed and were called to be a potential juror in a robbery case you might not be able to be unbiased, but in a business dispute it might be fine. What happens when you show up for jury duty? I can give you some information about Fort Bend, Harris, Brazoria, Wharton and other counties in Texas (as well as some other states), but most are fairly alike. You are generally initially selected by driver’s license and/or voters registration. You show up and they ask you to verify the information they have and fill out some more information which will be provided to the attorneys if you make it that far. They first qualify you which means they make sure you still live in the county, are not disqualified (not a felon or medically unable to participate) and do not choose to take a waiver (young children at home, student, etc.) Once you get that done, you wait. As the Courts need jurors they call names out and those people leave and go away?? Where? What happened to them? Is it better that you are still there?? If you are never called you are excused and get to leave. If you are called you are taken to one of the Courts where you will form the jury panel. It could be a criminal or a civil case which you find out when you get to the Court. The attorneys will have had about 5 seconds to review all the information that every potential juror provided as the Court explains a little about the case who the attorneys are and what will happen. Still in the dark, not surprising! At this point the attorneys begin vor dire. They get to ask you questions to see if you are the right person (in their mind) to serve on the jury. What each party really want is every juror to believe them and rule in their favor, but what we hope for is a jury that can be fair. How do we get there? We ask questions which we hope will allow us to learn a little about you to determine who we need to get rid of. We don’t get to select who we like. We get to get rid of some - ask the Court to get rid of some - and the first 6 or 12 (depending on Court) people left after all sides are done make up the jury. So in reality if you are on the jury it is because there was no good reason to get rid of you. I know you really want to know how to improve your chances of not ending up on the jury.
First – Do not just sit there quietly hoping no one will notice you. They won’t which means no reason to strike you and you end up on the jury.
Second – Tell the truth and answer the questions that are asked. If you do that and you end up on the jury it is a good thing and you will appreciate it if you ever have to be in a trial as that is the type of person you would want.
Third - If you are not comfortable with being a juror in that case let the attorneys know why. If it is personal ask to go up to the bench for a private conference with the judge and jury. No one wants a person on the jury who should not be there.
Question I have heard from potential jurors (not about me- I hope.)

Why do lawyers ask such stupid questions? Not a clue. Sometimes they have a reason for a question that doesn’t make sense at the time, sometimes it is just stupid.

Why do they argue with me about my answer? I really don’t know. Not only is it not smart, but it doesn’t get you any useful information. If I don’t agree with an answer a juror gives, I just make a note of it and move on.

Why won’t they answer my questions about… insurance, police report, etc. There are specific rules as to what attorneys are allowed to discuss and what we can’t. In an injury case we are not allowed to discuss anything about insurance, whether it exists (auto or health) what discussions, if any went on, etc. The police report and what they found may or may not come in depending on several issues. So if a lawyer will not answer you or avoids the question, it is probably because he is not allowed to discuss it.

Finally, don’t try to get off a jury panel. It may backfire. I have had jurors flat out lie and everyone knew it. Had an astronaut claim he wasn’t one and just an engineer. Everyone in the courtroom knew him and that he was an astronaut, but he kept swearing he wasn’t. The court called the lawyers up and said he didn’t know why he would lie, he was going to excuse him but also had lost all respect for him. We saw him the next morning on TV doing an interview. I also had a man claim he was a welder, but had a manicure and didn’t know much about the ins and outs of welding. Turns out he owned several welding companies and wanted to get on the jury to “stop the crazy verdicts”. He was struck. But how do you think he would have felt if his company was sued and a juror lied to get on to “make sure he lost”. He would be rightfully furious, but saw nothing wrong in his actions. I have also heard of jurors getting off a panel which would have been only a 1-2 day trial only to end up on a month long murder case. So tell the truth and generally it will all work out as it should. Hope this helps in jury de-selection understanding. If you have any other questions, about jury selection let me know. Next time we will talk about things that happen in trial.

Let me know your experiences with jury duty or jury selection?