What questions do lawyers ask during jury selection?

What questions do lawyers ask during jury selection?

Example Questions the Lawyers May Ask

• Have you or any member of your family, or a close friend, ever made a claim for personal injuries?
• Have you or any member of your family, or a close friend, ever been a party in a legal proceeding?
• Do you believe there are too many lawsuits?

Why are jurors dismissed?

Lawyers are given the chance to further question jurors during in-person selection. Either side can ask a judge to dismiss a juror for cause, meaning they believe a juror is biased or lacks the ability to serve. They raised concerns that those jurors may have been rejected because of their race.

What happens if a juror falls asleep?

First, if a juror falls asleep, the judge may choose to do nothing. Even in higher levels of court, senators have been recorded nodding off during impeachment hearings, and the trial continues without them. As another option, a judge may stop the trial to wake the juror and ask them if they need anything repeated.

What are the 3 stages of jury selection?

of the California Code of Civil Procedure.

• Step 1: Selection of a Jury.
• Step 2: The Trial.
• Step 3: Jury Deliberations.
• Step 1: Selection of a Jury.
• Step 2: The Trial.
• Step 3: Jury Deliberations.

Can a judge dismiss a jury?

This questioning of the potential jurors is known as voir dire (to speak the truth). If either lawyer believes there is information that suggests a juror is prejudiced about the case, he or she can ask the judge to dismiss that juror for cause. Each request will be considered by the judge and may or may not be allowed.

What happens if the judge disagrees with the jury?

JNOV is the practice in American courts whereby the presiding judge in a civil jury trial may overrule the decision of a jury and reverse or amend their verdict. If the judge grants a motion to set aside judgment after the jury convicts, however, the action may be reversed on appeal by the prosecution.

What happens if all 12 jurors don’t agree?

If the jury cannot agree on all counts as to any defendant, the jury may return a verdict on those counts on which it has agreed. . . . If the jury cannot agree on a verdict on one or more counts, the court may declare a mistrial on those counts. A hung jury does not imply either the defendant’s guilt or innocence.

What is it called when a jury Cannot come to a unanimous decision?

When there are insufficient jurors voting one way or the other to deliver either a guilty or not guilty verdict, the jury is known as a “hung jury” or it might be said that jurors are “deadlocked”. (Mistrials can happen for other reasons, so when a trial ends in a mistrial, it is not necessarily due to a hung jury.)

How common are hung juries?

The average hung jury rate across all 30 sites was 6.2 percent, with slightly higher rates ranging from 8 percent to 14.8 percent in 5 of the 6 California counties. The figure below displays the individual jurisdictional rates and shows the variation across counties.

What is the longest jury deliberation in history?

In the annals of lengthy jury deliberation perhaps the longest ever was the famous Long Beach California case in 1992, which took 11 years getting to trial, involved 6 months of testimony, and four and a half months of jury deliberations.

Is a hung jury Good or bad?

A hung jury is usually considered bad for everyone involved, and as a result there are a couple of things lawyers and judges can do to prevent them. One of the most important parts of this process is the actual jury selection, which usually happens well before the case is tried.

Is a mistrial good or bad for the defendant?

In most cases a mistrial will not bar the State from starting all over and trying the defendant again. This is unfair and violates the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause in the Constitution. However, the appellate courts have repeatedly disagreed and held that retrials are permitted in most circumstances.

Are Hung Juries a Problem?

Compared to cases in which the jury reached a verdict, the evidence was more ambiguous – that is, did not favor either side – in cases in which the jury deadlocked. Hung juries also reported that cases were more complex and that the jury had more difficulty understanding the evidence and the law than verdict juries.

How long does a jury deliberate before Hung?

A California jury deliberated less than four hours before acquitting O.J.

What is the shortest jury deliberation time?

one minute

How long can jury take to decide?

That means that with a full jury of 12 people, all 12 must agree on the verdict – whether that verdict is guilty or not guilty. If a jury is really struggling and a certain period of time has passed (usually at least 2 hours but sometimes much longer in a lengthy case), then a ‘majority verdict’ can be accepted.

When can a judge overrule a jury?

A judgment notwithstanding the verdict (or JNOV) is an order by a judge after a jury has returned its verdict. The judge can overturn the jury’s verdict if he or she feels it cannot reasonably be supported by the evidence or if it contradicts itself. This rarely happens.

What is the difference between jury and judge?

A jury is defined as a group of people who are sworn to give a verdict on a case which is given to them by a court, including the meting out of a judgment and penalty. A judge, on the other hand, is an individual who is tasked to preside over a court proceeding.

Which is better jury or judge?

And while there are always exceptions for particular cases, generally speaking as a defendant a trial by jury is usually a better choice than a judge (also known as a bench trial), one that is particularly preferred in Texas despite some declining numbers.

Is it better to have a trial by judge or jury?

A bench trial is also faster and the judge often returns a “finding” (the functional equivalent of a verdict) much quicker than in a jury trial. Both the defendant and the People have the right to a jury trial in misdemeanor and felony trials (California Constitution, Article I, § 16 and Penal Code § 699).

Who has more power the judge or jury?

When there is no jury (“bench trial”), the judge makes rulings on both questions of law and of fact. In most continental European jurisdictions, judges have more power in a trial and the role and powers of a jury are often restricted.