Jury duty can be a frightening but rewarding experience. In our legal system, juries hear criminal and civil cases.  Depending upon the type of case, a jury of six or twelve people is charged with the duty to resolve the dispute between two or more parties. Juries decide facts based upon the law that is given to them by a judge. Juries have the obligation to look at evidence, hear witnesses, weigh the credibility of witnesses, and then find a criminal defendant guilty or not guilty. In a civil case, juries decide whether to award damages to the persons bringing the claim. Juries also determine the amount of damages to award.

Our system of jury trials has worked for 200 years, and in this article, we want to give you a snapshot of what it may be like to serve on a jury while giving you some guidance on what to do if you serve on a jury.

Courts typically summon people for jury duty by receiving a jury summons through mail, although the rules may differ depending upon where you live. A summons is a call for you to serve on a jury. It is important not to ignore a jury summons when you receive a summons. When you are selected for jury duty, it is important that you report for jury duty on the time and date in the jury summons. Depending on the state in which you live, there may be different rules governing what will happen to you if you fail to report for jury duty. Different states and different courts will have different rules that excuse potential jurors from jury duty. Always call and find out more information from your local court so that you have the information you need before you report for jury duty.

The jury venire, or the jury pool, is the group of individuals from whom lawyers and judges select juries. When jurors appear for jury duty, some jurisdictions will have a judge do an initial interview and an initial swearing-in of jurors.  Depending on the particular location, some jurors will serve for periods as long as six months. Other jurisdictions require jurors to serve one to two weeks. If you are summoned for jury duty, ask the local official in your area how long you will be serving on your particular jury pool. There is grand jury duty in addition to trial jury duty. As grand jury duty is different from trial jury duty, this article deals with trial jury duty only.

After you go through an initial process, which varies depending upon your jurisdiction, you go into court where you will undergo a question and answer process known as voir dire. The voir dire process varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For your convenience, we have attached the voir dire questioning from an actual case that occurred in Tennessee. These questions and answers show the process used by lawyers to discover the biases, prejudices, and life experiences of potential jurors. Lawyers ask such questions to select jurors they believe will be more favorable to their side of a case. As a juror you should know that the trial begins with this questioning, or voir dire, process.

The questioning during voir dire will range from personal information about each juror to information about the juror's attitudes concerning the court system, the facts of the particular case that they may hear, and a juror's biases and prejudices toward individuals or maybe even the parties to the case. The range and scope of questions will vary among particular jurisdictions, courts, and judges.  Depending on the complexity of the case, this process can be detailed and time consuming.  Conversely, it may also be relatively simple and quick.

Also included in the transcript below are arguments and statements about how lawyers challenge jurors.

Challenges are the method used to eliminate jurors from the jury panel. Lawyers may challenge jurors for cause. A for cause challenge means that the juror may have a particular bias that makes the juror unfit to be on the jury. Therefore, the cause challenge in some jurisdictions may also include a challenge because a juror has a particular mental or physical affliction that prevents the juror from serving. During the process, there are challenges for cause and preemptory challenges. For cause and preemptory challenges are governed by local rules of court, and by the rules of procedure in the local jurisdiction. The number of peremptory challenges may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction based upon those rules. Lawyers use preemptory challenges to eliminate biased jurors from the jury.

We have attached a transcript from a slip and fall case where one lawyer, during the voir dire process, accused opposing counsel of playing psychological games on members of the jury in order to get the jurors that opposing counsel wanted. This case shows an example of how lawyers may use the voir dire process to attempt to convince jurors that one side is more right than the other side even before the case begins.

If you are called for jury duty, depending upon your jurisdiction, lawyers may have a wide latitude in exploring your background and experiences including trying to get a feel for how your mind works in relation to the particular facts and circumstances of the case. This may include presenting facts of the case before opening statements and evidence, and this process may include presentation of facts that will occur during the trial, trying to get your impressions about how you feel about certain facts before the trial begins.  This process is often very important for lawyers and can be an eye opening experience for jurors.

For more information email us. Click here to read the voir dire from a slip and fall case in Tennessee and to view our video on jury duty.