Defending People

the art and science of criminal defense trial lawyering

The Hair in the Food, and Jury Selection

Mark Bennett | June 25, 2009

A few rules from growing up Bennett:

Never lose altitude unnecessarily.
Slow, slow. Look, Look.
Never pass up a chance to relieve yourself.
Don’t let too much small stuff pile up (this is the companion rule to the more widely known “Don’t sweat the small stuff” and “It’s all small stuff”).
There’s always a hair in the food.

This last rule [...]

Category: jury selection, philosophy | 2 Comments »
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The End Result

Mark Bennett | April 7, 2009

This is the case on which I was deselected from the jury last week. Now I’m glad Caroline “Wonder Woman” Dozier decided to strike me; I wouldn’t want to be remembered for having sent a guy to prison during my tenure as HCCLA President.
The jury gave the defendant life in prison plus a $10,000 fine [...]

Category: Harris County, Harris County courts, jury selection | 3 Comments »
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Voir Dire Notes: The Accused

Mark Bennett | April 3, 2009

When I sat on a jury panel this week, one thing that jumped to my attention was the behavior of the accused. He, a non-English speaker wearing headphones to listen to the simultaneous translation of the proceedings, had his head down, chin against his chest, for — as far as I could tell — the [...]

Category: clients, jury selection, jury trials | 4 Comments »
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Jury Selection Catch-22

Mark Bennett | April 3, 2009

Judges will start giving lawyers more time if lawyers start performing better voir dire.
Lawyers will start performing better voir dire if judges start giving them more time.

Category: jury selection | No Comments »
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This’ll teach her.

Mark Bennett | March 31, 2009

I was called for jury duty today. Strangely, none of my 100-or-so fellows in the jury assembly room seemed nearly as excited about the prospect of serving as I felt. When I made it to the courtroom (the 180th District Court, Hon. Debbie Mantooth Stricklin presiding) and saw that Caroline “Wonder Woman” Dozier, one of [...]

Category: jury selection | 8 Comments »
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Why Challenges for Cause Aren’t Enough

Mark Bennett | March 6, 2009

In response to the blawgospheric discussion of peremptory challenges, Minnesota renaissance man Joel “Jdog” Rosenberg wrote:
As an outsider, I’m finding this discussion more than moderately interesting. I think it’s (what passes for) conventional wisdom outside your trade that challenges for cause aren’t particularly difficult to get judges to do that okay-thingee on.
In a criminal [...]

Category: judges, jury selection | 3 Comments »
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Peremptories — Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em?

Mark Bennett | March 5, 2009

Prompted by this WSJ article noting that some critics of peremptory challenges in jury selection would like to see peremptories limited to three per side, Walter Olson of Overlawyered (@WalterOlson) and Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice (@ScottGreenfield) have been engaged this morning in a twitter conversation about peremptory challenges (and, not incidentally, clever lawyers). They’ve [...]

Category: jury selection, jury trials | 5 Comments »
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Free Goodies from ASTC

Mark Bennett | January 27, 2009

The new edition of the American Society of Trial Consultants The Jury Expert is out. I’ll be paying special attention to Gail Herde’s Take Me to Your Leader: An Examination of Authoritarianism as an Indicator of Juror Bias.
I think authoritarianism might be what I’m trying to get at with this scaled jury question; I [...]

Category: become a better lawyer, jury selection, scaled questions, scavenging | 3 Comments »
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I Want Angry Jurors With Low Self-Esteem

Mark Bennett | November 19, 2008

I’ve started reading the quarterly magazine of the American Society of Trial Consultants, The Jury Expert. It’s right up Defending People readers’ alley; it’s even subtitled “The Art and Science of Litigation Advocacy. I downloaded a stack of issues to carry in my bag for quiet times; there are several treasures in each volume. If [...]

Category: ASTC, jury selection, psychology, scaled questions, scavenging, trial | 1 Comment »
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Another Approach to Death-Qualified Jurors

Mark Bennett | October 31, 2008

In jury selection for my aggravated assault trial last week, I objected to the State’s use of a challenge for cause to exclude a potential juror whose religion forbade him judging other people. The objection was under Article I, Section 4 of the Texas Constitution, which provides in relevant part, “No religious test shall ever [...]

Category: jury selection, religious tests, trial | No Comments »
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