These Answers Get You Kicked OFF a Jury

I only want certain types of people on my jury: unbiased and impartial. Here's how I make sure those people don't end up serving during jury duty. Some people just have no business serving on juries. At the same time, there are certain juries that YOU have no business serving on. As a trial lawyer, it’s my job to find out whether or not potential jurors are a good fit for the case that I’m going to present to them and ask a verdict for. We call that Voir Dire. Voir Dire is the questioning of the venire panel (potential jurors) that lets us identify outlooks, life-experiences, or firm beliefs that could prevent someone from judging a case impartially. That’s because the foundation of every verdict is laid during voir dire. Police Bias (Strike for Cause) I remember this one trial, it was a traffic ticket trial, that we were trying to a jury. Yes, in Texas you can have a jury trial for a traffic ticket. This case came down to the word of the police officer against the word of my client. You see, I had evidence that the police officer had falsified his report, but I was worried that the jurors would side with the officer even if I presented this very clear evidence. So, during Voir Dire, I asked a pretty simple question: If the police officer says one thing, but my client says the exact opposite, are there any of you who are more likely to believe the police officer because he is a police officer? Nearly the entire panel raised their hands! So, I diligently wrote down each of their juror numbers and made sure I didn’t miss a single one. Then, I went one by one with a follow-up question: “Is it fair to say that you’d start the police officer ahead of my client when determining credibility?” When I pointed out to them that their answers meant they might be a little biased in favor of the police for this case, most of them actually AGREED! So, after I was finished, I turned to the Judge and asked that all of those Jurors be stricken for cause on the basis of bias. It goes without saying that if a biased juror is allowed to decide the case, then that would violate my client’s rights. Well, the Judge agreed and ALL of them were kicked off. We’re talking dozens of people being suddenly excused. Then, when the dust settled, we didn’t have enough Jurors to even conduct the trial. This is known as “busting the panel.” The Judge declared a mistrial so we went home…and then the Prosecutor dismissed the case the next week. The Mother Lover (Peremptory Challenge) I represented a father in a trial who was fighting for custody of his children. During Voir Dire, I asked a pretty simple question: “How many of you, by a show of hands, would agree that it is usually in a child’s best interest to live with their mother?” A couple of jurors raised their hands, so I picked one and asked him if he’d care to elaborate. He then started spilling every thought he had about parenting. He said fathers are the disciplinarians and mothers are caregivers. He said he thought fathers ought to be out working and making money while mothers should be staying at home with the children. Oh, he went on and on about how fathers don’t know how to take care of young kids or deal with emotional issues. I thought to myself, “alright, this one is cooked! Surely he is biased and I can strike him for cause.” Well, as soon as I sat down, the mother’s attorney got to ask questions. She knew how valuable this juror would be for her side, so she asked him, “If the Judge told you that you can’t consider gender when making your decision in this case, can you follow the law?” He said YES! Even though he’d just spilled his guts about how he thinks fathers have no business being the primary caregiver, he then said that he could ignore his gut and follow the law. Well, the Judge thought that this juror’s response was just enough to show that he wasn’t biased, so the Judge denied my strike for cause. However, I still had a secret weapon, my Peremptory Challenges. With a peremptory challenge, I can kick anyone off the jury without ever having to tell the Judge my reason, so long as I don’t do it in a discriminatory manner. So, I kicked that juror off the panel to avoid him poisoning all the other jurors when it came time for deliberations. Too Much Money (Challenge for Cause) I had this trial where my client had been hurt so I told the jury panel that we were asking for money damages during voir dire. I told them that the burden of proof in that case was just... Chapters: 00:00 – 3 Times I’ve Kicked Jurors OFF My Jury 00:33 – Police Bias (Strike for Cause) 02:02 – The Mother Lover (Peremptory Challenge) 03:43 – Too Much Money (Challenge for Cause) 04:51 – Why These Strikes Matter Also find our content on: Facebook.com/MatthewHarrisLaw Instagram - @MatthewHarrisLaw Google Maps – https://g.page/MatthewHarrisLaw Website - https://matthewharrislaw.com/ Music: Warzone – Anno Domini Beats Music provided via YouTube Studio Audio Library