Discussion » Questions » Legal » Is jury selection fair? How many potential jurors can an attorney reject? Isn't jury selection stacking the deck?
RosieG

Is jury selection fair? How many potential jurors can an attorney reject? Isn't jury selection stacking the deck?

An Answermugger friend said he was dismissed from jury duty because he had actually experienced something similar to what the case was about. Is that fair? I know it is the job of a defense attorney to get his/her client off, guilty or not. But not allowing people to sit on juries who may have experienced something similar seems to me like stacking the deck. What do you think and why?

Posted - November 13, 2016
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Responses


  • 46117
    It is totally stacking the deck if you know what you are doing.  That is how Dr. Phil made his bones before he met Oprah.  He was a professional jury selector in Texas and he was very successful.   He made an appointment with Oprah when she was being sued by those cattle ranchers in Texas for saying beef was bad.   They said she was responsible for causing their sales of beef to plummet.   Dr. Phil told her that those good old boys were going to eat her alive if he did not step in and help her.  She hired him, she got to know him, saw that he was totally brilliant and viola, Dr. Phil is born.

    So much depends on raw fate with juries.  There is a limited number that each lawyer is allowed to toss out before they have to choose.   But if you don't know how to choose, you can lose a case.  It is that serious.  You know how biased people can be.
      November 13, 2016 1:54 AM MST
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  • 5614
    It is stacking the deck but there are good reasons for why it is done and fair when both sides are allowed to do it. This post was edited by O-uknow at November 13, 2016 6:37 AM MST
      November 13, 2016 2:19 AM MST
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