Here are three jury related articles discussing: (1) questions posed by jurors; (2) stacking or delayed jury service; and (3) the unreliability of juror stereotypes.
Questions from Jurors Create Buzz at White Trial
San Diego police Officer Frank White spent five hours on the witness stand last week. But neither the prosecution nor the defense attorney asked him why, during a confrontation with another driver, he didn't roll down his window before he fired his gun through the glass.
A juror posed the question.
The jurors hearing White's felony criminal case had a couple of more questions for the 29-year-old officer, who is accused of shooting a woman and her child during a parking lot encounter while off duty on March 15, 2008.
The practice of allowing jurors to ask questions of witnesses has created a buzz in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Harry Elias, who is among the few judges in North County who will tell a jury that they should feel free to submit written questions to him.
And submit they do. How it will affect White's case remains to be seen, but many of the jurors hearing his case appear eager to submit their queries for witnesses (to continue reading go here).
Kissel Trial Schedule Could Taint Jurors
With the summer promising back-to-back murder trials stemming from the 2006 slaying of real estate developer Andrew Kissel, legal experts say the unconventional method of jury selection could present major problems.
More than half of the jury has been selected for Carlos Trujillo's trial, but evidence won't be presented until mid-August. By that time, co-defendant Leonard Trujillo already will be through with his trial, which starts Tuesday, and some say the odd schedule in such a major case may inevitably taint the jurors.
"It seems strange to me that they are picking a jury now for a trial to commence in August," said Steven Duke, a professor at Yale Law School. "That jury will read all about the case during the June trial and may be contaminated by it."
Carlos Trujillo, 48, of Bridgeport, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder. His cousin Leonard Trujillo, 22, of Worcester, Mass., is charged with murder, capital felony and conspiracy to commit murder. Kissel was found stabbed to death in his backcountry mansion in April 2006, days before he was to plead guilty to federal fraud charges.
Although jurors have been instructed by a judge not to read about the case, Stamford-based defense attorney Matthew Maddox said that will be nearly impossible as national media outlets will likely cover both trials.
Maddox said in many cases in Stamford, juries are selected, but the evidence portion of the trial doesn't begin immediately, a process known as stacking. Doing so for such a high-profile case creates many problems, mainly because it could affect the opinion of jurors, Maddox said (to continue reading go here).
Stereotypes Confound Jury Selection
Before a high-profile federal trial began in Baltimore last month, lawyers for the three black defendants filed a motion claiming that the prosecution deliberately - and illegally - dismissed black jury candidates to pack the panel with whites.
"They want a jury that may be sympathetic to the death sentence," defense attorney Archangelo Tuminelli said.
But the judge ultimately ruled that the allegation was wrong. And, it turns out, the stereotype might be, too.
While many lawyers have long relied on stereotypes to figure out how potential jurors might lean, those characterizations are increasingly turned on their heads, trial consultants said.
Women can be harder on rape victims who put themselves in risky situations. Business people could be bitter toward companies because of economic cutbacks. And minorities, who are supposed to favor the defense because they distrust law enforcement, often side with prosecutors, while whites sometimes favor black defendants, even if it's just out of a fear they'll be labeled racist if they do otherwise (to continue reading go here).
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