As you proceed through your criminal case, you’ll have to make several decisions. One of them is whether you want to enter into a plea deal or take your case to trial. If the evidence is in your favor, or if you think that you have strong legal arguments to attack the prosecution’s case, then trial may be your best option. But if you’re going this route, you need to be aware of the more nuanced legal issues that you may face so that you know what to expect and how to appropriately handle them. One of those issues is jury selection.
Why does jury selection matter in your criminal case?
Although you have the ability to have your case heard and decided by a judge in what’s known as a bench trial, most criminal defendants choose to have their case heard by a jury of their peer since raising reasonable doubt in the mind of just one juror may be enough to beat the prosecution’s case. But when a jury is chosen for a trial, each individual member of that jury comes to the courtroom with their own lived experiences, perceptions and biases, whether consciously or not. The individuals that are chosen for the jury, then, could already have a preconceived notion about you or the criminal offense in question. In a worst-case scenario, this could put you in a losing position from the get-go. In a best-case scenario, you’ll have a jury that’s sympathetic to your position.
How does jury selection work?
Essentially, a pool of individuals is brought to court and is subjected to questioning by the prosecution and the defense. The purpose of this questioning is to elicit biases and problematic perceptions that could taint the trial’s fairness. Each side can then ask for certain jurors to be removed.
When asking for dismissal of a potential juror, each side has a limited number of requests that can be made without providing any justification. The parties just need to be careful that they’re not removing potential jurors based on discriminatory reasoning. After that point, each side much provide the justification behind their request to have a potential juror removed.
Therefore, before heading into jury selection, you need to research potential jurors, if possible, and prepare targeted questions that address their backgrounds, what they already know about the case, their views of the victim or individuals like the victim as well as their perceptions of you or people from your racial, ethnic or economic background. It’s imperative that you’re thorough here so that you don’t end up choosing a juror who already has their mind made up about your guilt.
Competently navigate every aspect of your criminal defense
Jury selection is a major piece of your criminal case. Yet, it’s only one of the many that you’ll have to confront throughout the process. Therefore, before jumping into the deep end of your criminal case, it may be helpful to learn about the intricacies of a criminal trial and the criminal defense decisions that you’ll have to make. That way you’ll be as informed as possible, thereby allowing you to play an effective role in building your criminal defense arguments.
We know that the intricacies of a criminal case can be a lot to process. But don’t let the stress of it all consume you and lead to inaction. Instead, be aggressive in crafting the criminal defense arguments necessary to protect your interests. By doing so, you’ll hopefully beat the prosecution, salvage your future and reclaim your normal life.