Jury Selection begins today. The usual pre-trial butterflies are settling in, but they mix with excitement so I am full of energy this morning.
I've got my questions all lined up for the jurors. Who they are, what they believe, what pre-conceived notions they have. I wonder what their questions are for me though. This case and arrest occurred in August 2010 (yes, that's a year and a half!). I know every fact and tangent from every fact. The jury gets such a limited snippet of the entire case. They are not privy to everything I know due to the rules of evidence.
They must wonder why it took so long to get to trial, what happens when we excuse them from the courtroom, why weren't they selected, or what the defendant's background is.
In any down time today, I'll try and think of a questionnaire that jurors can use for attorneys during a case. This will flip the tables on us. If the jurors could ask the attorneys questions, what would they ask?
Do any of you have any ideas? What would you like to ask an attorney during jury selection, during a trial, or after a trial?
Here's a refresher on how jury selection works in NY.
Hmmm . . . I don't think there's enough room in this comment section. Just kidding. I would want to know what evidence was not admitted! Other than that it would probably depend on the details of the case. You know what I have always had a problem with though? Jury instructions. I don't know about New York but here the instructions are the same no matter what. So if the jury doesn't understand them, all the Judge can do is keep re-reading them to the jury over and over again which makes no sense to me. What would make you think that the jury would understand them the second or sixth time you read them when they didn't understand them the first time? Not everyone grasps certain concepts in the exact same way. As a family member this was exceedingly frustrating. God knows how they are interpreting the instructions back in the jury room when they clearly are not grasping them (since they asked about them six flipping times!) No one ever talks about this issue.
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