I just finally served on a jury. I've been summoned before, but this was the first time I went through voir dire and was selected (we ended up convicting the defendant). I'll post a summary of the experience at some point, but a few notes on voir dire.
I had no idea how involved a process this was. As some of you know, its how a group of 12 people are drawn from a larger pool of citizens, but its also the way that the court introduces potential jurors to both the judicial process and the players in a particular case. The judge, and prosecuting and defense attorneys all have the opportunities to introduce themselves and ask vague questions related to how one might be disposed to decide specific questions. The judge seemed keen on repeating the necessity for an unbiased approach to the case and honed in on people who seemed uncertain about whether they could in fact be impartial.
That was her constitutional role.
I also learned a lesson many learned before me. If you don't want to be on the jury, talk a lot during voir dire. I didn't, and was selected, which is what I wanted.
Juries, in my opinion, may be the most unjustly maligned institution in American government. To criticize juries is frankly to criticize the American people. In my opinion my fellow jurors, were thoughtful and conscientious. A great experience overall.
- Legal Definition.
