How to Spot Biased Jurors and Get Them Excused

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On our jury selection series we have been talking about the importance of jury selection in a criminal trial. In many ways, jury selection is the most important part of the trial. Why? Because you get to talk to the people that will be judging you! Find out what they believe, what their prejudices are, are they willing to follow the law? Who are your friends and your enemies.

Remember, the goal is to strike for cause the crazy people that will not follow the law and cut the other people that don’t like you! This is important you listen to everything they say! Get the jury talking!

What about jurors that have prejudices and biases? I don’t just mean being racist or sexist. All of us have preconceived ideas about things we formulate because of our background and experience. It doesn’t mean we are bad person but it does mean we may not be the right kind of juror for this type of case.

So how do we find out who has these prejudices and biases. More importantly, how do we get the jurors to open up about this without feeling ashamed? After all, if they don’t speak up, you can’t strike them for cause. You see, if a juror will admit they will not be able to be fair and presume someone innocent or hold the government to their burden of proof BRD, that prospective juror cannot make it to the jury.

Let’s jump into the roleplay of techniques my criminal defense law firm has used to get the jury to admit their biases and prejudices and strike them from the jury.

Prejudices and Biases - (Always begin talking about our own prejudices as attorneys as a means of establishing prejudices are fine).

I know for a fact that I am not the right kind of attorney for every kind of case because I am like a juror and everything I do for a client is tied to me forever also and I know this. As a result, there are certain cases I am not qualified to take and when that happens, my prospective client EXPECTS me to disqualify myself from representation because my heart and soul, background or experience disqualifies me. However, it doesn’t make me a lesser person; it makes me an honest person to my client.

I don’t believe that every person is qualified to sit on a case as a juror, but only you know that. It takes more courage to say “I’m not qualified” than to say you are qualified. None of us like to admit there is something about us that doesn’t sit quite right – after all, we are all taught we can do anything if we put our mind to it, right?

I have also been robbed before. I share the story. I explain how it felt and what I experienced and that the guy who did it was never caught. I might not be the best person to be a juror on a robbery case. Why? I might subconsciously hold that against the accused because of my negative experience. I owe him that transparency because I want to be completely fair about his trial.

There is something admirable about a person that can examine themselves and admit there is something about their background or experience that would prevent them from sitting on this case. I would like each of you to think about that for a little while. When you are in the jury room and the door is closed and the fate of a woman rests in your hands and you all the sudden realize you should not be there for some reason, it will be too late. But not only is it too late for you, it is also too late for Ms. Jones.

Try to find a juror that admits there is something in their background or perspective that may make them the wrong candidate to sit on this jury. After you hear them out….

Mr. (questionable juror), thank you for discussing this issue, because it gave the other jurors the opportunity to think about whether they want to be involved in this decision-making process. Every time we share our concerns and feelings about issues, they are gifts to each other. There may be feelings that you have that you don’t want to share but even if they are negative, they are still gifts.

Ms. Jones is entitled to know how you truly feel and if you were seated in her chair, you would say “I wonder how this juror feels and I hope this juror gives me that gift.”
Do you all want to sit on this jury?

00:00 Expose Juror Prejudices and Biases in Criminal Trials
01:34 Goal Of Jury Selection
03:32 How Do We Expose A Juror’s Prejudices & Biases?
05:15 How To Strike A Juror “For Cause”
05:48 Techniques To Expose Prejudice & Bias
12:43 Expert Tip: Use A Juror’s Experience To Reach Other Jurors!