Juries

Latest Edition of Jury Expert

The new issue of The Jury Expert is now available at our website: http://www.thejuryexpert.com. 

You won't want to miss this one--it has everything from the effect of attorney race and gender on eventual verdict, to the emotional state of jurors hearing your case, to entitlement and damages awarded, to new ways to view product defense, and to ways you can save money doing research on your case and having your witnesses prepared. And more!

May 2011: The Jury Expert Table of Contents:

Effects of Race and Gender of Attorneys on Trial Outcomes 

http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/the-effects-of-race-and-gender-of-attorneys-on-trial-outcomes/ 

Damage Awards: Jurors’ Sense of Entitlement as a Predictor http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/damages-and-entitlement/ 

Narrative Persuasion in Legal Settings: What’s the Story?
http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/narrative-persuasion/ 

Techniques for Avoiding and Breaking Bad News
http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/techniques-for-avoiding-and-breaking-bad-news/ 

Are your jurors mad or sad? 
http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/are-your-jurors-mad-or-sad-x/ 

The new ABCs of Product Defense
http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/abcs-of-product-defense/ 

Consulting on a Budget
http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/consulting-on-a-budget/ 

Budget Conscious Witness Preparation
http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/05/budget-conscious-witness-preparation/  

 

Jury News

Daily Progress: UVa prof: Juries can't escape life-without-parole sentencing

Patch.com: Alternate Juror Begs to Be Excused from Komisarjevsky Case

Stamford Advocate: The slow pace of justice in Connecticut  

Huffington Post: Professional Jurors: Has the Time Come?

 

Examiner.com: Lawyer claims large breasted paralegal used to distract jurors

 

Herald and News: Defense will have to prove juror bias

 

New York Times: Jurors and Reasonable Doubt

Closed Voir Dire Leads to Another Reversal

People v. Martin 2011 NY Slip Opinion 03885

The issue presented for our determination is whether defendant's right to a public trial was violated when the trial judge sua sponte closed the court room, specifically ejecting defendant's father during voir dire without considering any alternative accommodations. We hold that such an action violated defendant's right to a public trial and warrants reversal...

The ability of the public to observe questioning of this sort is important, both so that the judge, the lawyers and the prospective jurors will be conscious that they are observed, and so that the public can evaluate the fairness of the jury selection process...

Citing 12 Angry Men, the 9th Circuit Overturns Murder Conviction

On Monday, a three judge panel from the 9th Circuit decided Williams v. Cavazos. The opinion overturns the murder conviction of Ms.Tara Williams and also quotes extensively from the academy award winning movie 12 Angry Men. Ms. Williams, who has spent the last 18 years incarcerated, is serving a sentence of life without parole for her role in a liquor store robbery where the cashier was murdered. Ms. Williams drove the "get away" car.  

The issue before the appellate panel was whether the trial judge improperly replaced a lone hold out juror during deliberations with an alternate? According to the trial judge, the juror in question was replaced because he was biased against the prosecution.  The appellate panel, after juxtaposing a scene from 12 Angry Men with an actual jury colloquy from the Williams case, came to a different conclusion. 

Judge Reinhardt who was writing for the unanimous panel stated that:

Juror No. 6 was [not] 'biased' in any traditional sense of the term, as would have been the case if, for example, he had stated that he could not be impartial or had accepted a bribe related to the case. Nor did it find that he had 'implied bias,' such as might have resulted from Juror No. 6 having a connection to one of the parties, or being related to someone who had either committed or been a victim of some similar crime.

At present, it is unclear whether the prosecution plans to request an en banc hearing or try Ms. Williams a second time. Ironically, the individual who actually shot the cashier only served 3 years. For more background on this case see the articles below.

LA Times:Conviction in '93 liquor store robbery slaying overturned

Court House News: Tossing Holdout Juror Tainted Murder Trial

For a more in depth legal analysis and application of 12 Angry Men see, Chicago Kent's Law Review Symposium on the 50th Anniversary of 12 Angry Men.

Casey Anthony Jurors to Visit Theme Parks

WOFL FOX 35 has an article discussing the jury costs associated with the Casey Anthony trial. 

According to the article,

Orange County pays each juror $15 for the first 3 days of service, then $30 dollars each day after that. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. Estimated costs are expected to exceed $20,000.

Hotel rooms are roughly $112 a night and will cost around $80,000 over the course of the trial.

Jurors will be fed at a cost of around $25,000 Other costs will add to the overall spending, including transportation and security.

The article also states that during the jurors anticipated two-month sequestration they will be treated to local theme parks.  

Total cost estimates are pegged at around $361,000.  Court breakdown of the costs are available here.

Law Review Article

Lee Goldman, Post-Verduct Challenges to Racial Comments Made During Juror Deliberations, 61 Syracuse L. Rev. 1-24 (2010).

ABSTRACT:

Part I of this article addresses the applicability of Rule 606(b) to post-verdict challenges based upon evidence of racial slurs made during deliberations. It concludes that the legislative history of Rule 606(b) and existing case law require exclusion of such juror testimony. Part II discusses the constitutional challenges to Rule 606(b). There is some suggestion in court opinions that in extreme cases, the application of Rule 606(b) might be unconstitutional. Nonetheless this article concludes that the better view under existing case law and sound policy is that Rule 606(b) is constitutional when applied to racist comments made during deliberations.

 

Push Poll or Juror Research?

This is the question before federal judge Myron Thompson who is presiding over the prosecution of Milton McGregor in Montgomery, Alabama.   McGregor, whose trial starts June 6th, is charged with using campaign contributions and other means to try to buy votes for a gambling bill.

According to the prosecutors handling the case, members of the defense team are attempting to taint potential jurors through a telephonic poll.  Here is a recent editorial in the Montgomery Advertiser on the issue.    

Now there is concern that push poll techniques are being used not in a political sense, but possibly as a way to influence potential jurors in the upcoming federal corruption trial involving allegations of bribes to influence gambling legislation before the Alabama Legislature.

Federal prosecutors raised concerns last week that defense was using polls to try to influence the public, and thereby potential jurors.

According to prosecutors, pollsters for Victoryland owner Milton McGregor's lawyers have been using a poll to influence potential jurors in favor of McGregor by asking loaded questions. For instance, prosecutors said people were asked if their opinion of McGregor would be affected if they knew the defendant "is a charitable man who has provided support and funding to schools and nonprofit causes throughout Alabama" or if they knew he was active in his church.

Such loaded questions certainly sound like a push-poll technique.

If push polls are being used by the defense, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson should come down on defense attorneys like a load of bricks. As bad as push polling is in political campaigns -- one state has outlawed them -- they are even worse if used to try to skew potential jurors. Allowing them prior to trials would undermine the public's faith in the judicial system and make it extremely difficult to find unbiased jurors... to continue reading go here.

The prosecution has filed a motion asking the court to dismiss any potential juror who has been polled.  The defense's response is available here.  Judge Thompson is expected to rule on the prosecution's motion soon. 

Jury News

KRQE: Questionnaire leaves juror scared

7Online.com:Juror accused of trying to solicit a bribe

Patch.com: Attorney Says Length of Hayes Trial Bankrupted Juror

The Jackson Citizen Patriot - MLive.com: Juror in Ronald Woodard murder trial removed from panel after bringing to ...

MSNBC: Bonds jurors are second-guessing their votes

Arkansas News: AG won't fight evidence of juror misconduct in WM3 case

WESH Orlando: Ask The Judge: Juror Challenges, Court Cameras

The Republic: After questioning 130 potential jurors, Jackson Co. gives up on seating jury ...

Jury Consultants Could Not Prevent Rajaratnam's Conviction

This Wall Street Journal article discusses the role and impact of jury consultants in the recent trial of Raj Rajaratnam.

The Defense Worked--to a Point

Two jury consultants hired by Raj Rajaratnam to help choose the panel that would decide his fate got everything they wanted—except the result.

On the first day of jury selection in a New York federal court in early March, the consultants sat with color-coded sheets of papers at the defense table. They tapped away at computers as they tried to select a jury that would give the hedge-fund star a fair shake in his insider-trading trial...

Barry Bonds Jurors Speak Out

NY Times: As Bonds Appeals Verdict, Jurors Will Be Watching Closely

One group that will be watching how the matter unfolds is the jury that spent nearly four weeks at Bonds’s trial. In recent interviews, some of those jurors said they had spent too much time and energy on the case to ignore what would ultimately happen to Bonds.

“Once the trial was over, I got on the Internet and saw how much incriminating evidence was out there that we weren’t allowed to see as jurors,” Steve Abfalter, a juror from Antioch, Calif., said. “So knowing what I know now, it would be hard to handle if the conviction was thrown out because he was obviously so guilty...to continue reading go here.