Comment below: ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > **Snip** > > I am not a lawyer, but from what I have read about jury selection, > you need to be concerned more about each juror's personality profile > than about the presentation of your case. In other words, you pick a > jury whose prejudices are likely to result in a favorable outcome for > your client (the defense guys who set up the O.J. Simpson jury did a > great job) regardless of the merit of what you have to say. This is > similar to the way politics is conducted these days -- there is > little or no attempt to change people's minds, but pols attempt to > energize their base and get them to donate and vote. > > So, in your case, I'm not sure your presentation, with a group that > is unlikely to reflect the jury pool you will be drawing from, is > going to do you any good. If you had any money, instead of being a > public defender, you could rent a jury in your locale and make your > pitch, getting feedback from people who are a good demographic mix > representing your likely jury pool, and this kind of feedback would > be useful, but I don't see this list as being in any way > representative of the jurors you are likely to see in court. > **End**
Yes, you are entirely correct. Delving into the individual personality profile part is what's called jury selection, or voir dire, which is normally done orally; attorneys question potential jurors regarding issues they (the lawyers) are planning on addressing and attempt to expose biases and prejudices in the jurors that may be helpful or unhelpful. And in all capital cases (death penalty), and even in most homicides, there will be a jury questionnaire carefully prepared and crafted, with the assistance of professional jury consultants, and even sometimes the "rental juries" you referred to, so as to really hone in on the type of juror the defense wants for the case. Even so, jury selection is more of an art than anything else and sometimes you just don't get the result you want and find out, after trial, some of the ideas and thoughts in the minds of the jurors were ones that you hadn't considered or fully addressed, etc. (...and sometimes the facts don't allow more than a single conclusion...) Without question, this particular group (FFL) is way off the charts as far as being representational of any other demographic I could even imagine having to select from. But, precisely because FFL is so peculiar, and so peculiarly gifted, I wanted to bounce around some ideas regarding the overall strategy of the case (and the theme *is* the strategy), if anyone wanted to. If nothing else, it struck me as an interesting idea. I'll find out. A couple of people have already contacted me. Probably by Monday, whoever has emailed me by then, that'll be the group. It'll probably be a back and forth for several days or maybe a couple of weeks at the most. At least that's my guess. Jury selection doesn't begin until November 7 and will last at least 2 weeks, maybe 3. So there's lots of stuff to deal with and think about and prepare for, and this seemed like it could be fun. See how it goes. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
