Juries

Taiwainese Quasi-Juries

Following in the footsteps of Japan and South Korea, Taiwan is considering implementing a quasi-jury system where citizen panels consisting of five members can advise judges in cases involving the death penalty or life imprisonment.  The judges, however, do not have to follow the advice of the jurors.  However, the judges would have to justify any deviation from the decision of the jurors. Also, under the proposal, the jurors can ask questions of the witnesses and defendant.

China Post: Quasi-juries would be good first step in judicial reform

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Jury News

Adelaide Now: Modern courts 'too complex' for juries

Telegraph.co.uk: Facebook could threaten jury trials in UK, attorney general warns

CBS News: Casey Anthony judge delays release of jurors' names

Sacramento Bee (Blog): Jerry Brown, along with entire juror group, gets excused

Latest Edition of the Jury Expert

Below are articles from the latest edition of the Jury Expert which is published by the American Society of Trial Consultants.

American Justice or American Idol? Two Trials and Two Verdicts in the Casey Anthony Case 

by Richard Gabriel 

Blago 1: The Ultimate Mock Trial?

by Alan Tuerkheimer

The Dangers of Disgust in the Courtroom

by Pascale Sophie Russell and Roger Giner-Sorolla

Powerpoint Presentations and Compatibility: Be Prepared for Surprises

by Robert Featherly, Adam Wirtzfeld and Adam Bloomberg

In the Mood? Strategies for Working with Depressed and/or Anxious Witnesses

by Kacy Miller

Putting a Face on the Corporate Defendant

by Sarah Thimsen, E. Kiernan McGorty and Brian Bornstein

Juror Race and Capital Sentencing

by Bryan Edelman

Jury Box: Post-It Replacement for Jury Consultants and Lawyers

by Ted Brooks

Colorado Trial Court Erred in Failing to Dismiss Jurors for Cause Based on Actual Bias

A Colorado appellate court recently ruled in People v. Chavez that a trial court erred in failing to dismiss jurors for cause based on actual bias.  This case serves as another illustration for why you exercise all of your peremptory challenges.

The case as explained by the Colorado Lawyer:

Defendant contended that the trial court erred in denying his challenges for cause to jurors P, M, and R. Defense counsel questioned jurors early in voir dire about the prosecution’s burden of proof. Near the close of voir dire, defense counsel informed the prospective jurors for the first time that evidence would be presented at trial showing that defendant had shot someone other than the alleged sexual assault victim. Jurors P and R clearly indicated that the shooting would cause them to question defendant’s character and ease the prosecution’s burden. The trial court declined to extend voir dire to conduct potentially rehabilitative questioning. Considering the voir dire in its entirety, the record was devoid of indications that these two jurors could set aside their biases and follow the court’s instructions to render a fair and impartial verdict based solely on the law and the evidence. Under the circumstances presented here, the trial court erred in not dismissing these jurors for cause based on actual bias. Further, because defendant exercised peremptory challenges to excuse those jurors and he exhausted all of his peremptory challenges, the trial court’s denial of the challenges for cause to jurors P and R was an abuse of discretion and required reversal of the conviction.

Conrad Murray Attorney Wants Jurors Sequestered

NBC Los Angeles: Conrad Murray Defense Wants Jury Sequestered From Nancy Grace

89.3 KPPC: Sentenced to jury duty – indefinitely

CNN: Hearing set for Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray

NY Bar Association Approves of Investigating Jurors Online

Here is an ethics opinion from the NYCLA that discusses attorneys investigating jurors online.  According to the opinion, 

It is proper and ethical under RPC 3.5 for a lawyer to undertake a pretrial search of a prospective juror's social networking site, provided that there is no contact or communication with the prospective juror and the lawyer does not seek to "friend" jurors, subscribe to their Twitter accounts, send tweets to jurors or otherwise contact them.

This opinion is in keeping with the growing trend nationally to allow and even encourage attorneys to investigate jurors.   One interesting note about this opinion is the duty it places on attorneys who discover juror misconduct.  According to the NYCLA,

Any lawyer who learns of juror misconduct, such as substantial violations of the court's instructions, is ethically bound to report such misconduct to the court under RPC 3.5...

I suspect that this duty is jurisdiction specific.  The local ethics rules in most jurisdictions do not require attorneys to report juror misconduct unless it is either fraudulent or criminal. 

GA Appeals Court Says Voir Dire in Church not Kosher

In Osborn v. State, the Court of Appeals of Georgia recently overturned the felony convictions of Edward Osborn because the trial court conducted a portion of his voir dire in a church.  This change of location occured because of a bomb threat at the court.

In his appeal, Mr. Osborn contended: the trial court erred by holding a critical stage of his trial (voir dire) in a church, over his objection and without permission of the proper governing authority, in violation of OCGA sec. 15-6-18.  In response to Mr. Osborn's appeal, the state argued that he waived this argument because he did not make this specific objection at trial.  The appeals court disagreed and found that the issue was preserved for review on appeal and provides ground for reversal.

Bottom line:  If you want to hold voir dire outside of the courtroom, get the defendant to buy-in.

Casey Anthony Post Trial Jury News Update

Tbo.com: Pinellas woman regrets serving on Anthony jury

WDBO radio: Lawmakers seek to stop jurors from selling stories

Miami Herald: Why jurors' names are important

Christian Post: Casey Anthony Trial: Jurors Could Suffer From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

ScrippsNews: Maxwell: The honor of serving on a jury

Judges Trumping Jurors in Capital Cases

New York Times: Overriding the Jury In Capital Cases

Alabama allows judges to reject sentencing decisions from capital juries, which sounds like a sensible idea. You might want a mature and dispassionate jurist standing between a wounded community’s impulse toward vengeance and a defendant at risk of execution...to continue reading go here.

 

Juror's Online Research Leads to Mistrial

NorthJersey.com: Mistrial declared in pastor's sex-assault case

A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the sexual-assault trial of a Mahwah minister, a few days after a juror researched the case online and distributed printouts to the other jurors...to continue reading go here.