Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewb0051
I only do criminal work. Wait, that didn't sound good. Criminal defense. I've selected a bunch of juries in the Army, but never a civilian jury. The real difference is that the Commanding General selects a pool of potential jurors from his/her entire command. Then that is whittled down by voir dire just like any other court. The Army got smacked around a few years ago by an appellate court for having a regulation that specified no lawyers, doctors, dentists, would even be placed in the jury pool. After that, I seemed to always have some dentist on my jury.
The thing about striking lawyers and not wanting them to be a leader in the jury room seems to be a pretty commonly held belief. I'd hate to have someone back in the room that could say whether I was right or wrong on something.
|
Well, good luck. You're likely to find your military trial experience transfers to civilian court 100%. I also think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the quality of jury you end up with. It always seems bad until you get the final group seated. There's a reason the jury system has been around for so long. At the end of the day there's more common sense in a random jury than seems possible.
Just remember that it's all showtime to the jurors. What we take for granted and have seen a million times before is brand new to them and they're seeing it for the first time. Also, jurors make credibility decisions on the strangest things. They start the second they come into the room and look at counsel and the client sitting at the tables. They want to see someone who is paying attention to them as they walk in and someone who looks organized, whether you are or not. I always keep a banker's box under my table with all my junk in it so the top of my table that the jury can see is clean and has only the exhibit or my notepad or whatever I need right on top. And if you can, memorize the names of the members of the jury panel. Nothing impresses the jury more than a lawyer who steps right up to the jury box and handles voir dire by name. If the judge allows, engage each one in conversation. If you have a bad gut feeling about anyone, strike them. And defer to your client on who to strike. Client's guts are uncannily accurate.