On Legal Ethics

Your client is a celebrity. Consequently, your case has generated a large amount of publicity. Both you and your opponent have discussed the case with the media, and legal commentators have been making guest appearances on the evening news, tossing in their two cents as well.

You want to explore the idea of media exposure with your prospective jurors, without fueling the hype surrounding your case. You also want to make sure you don't have any jurors who may be interested in sitting on your case for reasons other than fulfilling their civic duty.

Exploring media exposure

In today's society, the media significantly colors jurors' perception of the world. Some jurors are fascinated by shows like "Crime Scene Investigation," more commonly known as "CSI," while other jurors have grown up watching legal dramas such as "Perry Mason" or "The Practice," which usually feature a string of innocent defendants subjected to wrongful prosecution. Other jurors religiously follow real-life high profile cases on Court TV or similar channels that feature continuous courtroom coverage, and some enjoy watching outspoken Hollywood judges deciding real small claims disputes on camera. Some may even have their favorite trial commentators.

You also want to know whether any jurors have a favorite legal movie, and why it is their favorite. The tendency as a juror to favor any genre of TV show, books or movies can be revealing. If they strongly favor comedy over reality, for example, they may find it difficult to accept that the man sitting at the defendant's table sporting the all-American haircut and crisp new suit is at fault in any way.

Also explore what radio programs your jurors listen to. You want to know whether they listen to shows where people call in to debate political topics, or if they listen to stations that provide court coverage.

Jurors' exposure to the publicity about your case

Your job gets harder when you are faced with uncovering media exposure to your own case, because your goal is to ensure an ethical verdict based solely on the evidence presented during the trial. Because trials are publicized by a variety of different types of media, you should ask questions about this during voir dire even if your case received minimal coverage.

You want to know how much your prospective jurors know about your case, and how they know it. You are interested in whether they heard about it on television, from the newspaper, or from a friend or family member.

Pay particular attention to the juror who has not only heard about the facts of your case, but who has followed legal commentary on the issues. This juror may have been exposed to strong opinions about the case that may not be in your favor.

Ask such jurors if their exposure has caused them to form any opinions about your case, and also if they have heard others discuss any such opinions they have formed. Past high profile cases have generated some interesting questions in this area. The Scott Peterson murder case jury questionnaire, after asking about media exposure, asked if the jurors thought the media always presents a story accurately, while the questionnaire formulated in the Kobe Bryant case asked if the jurors thought the media could be trusted to report both sides of a controversial issue. The Bryant questionnaire also asked about jurors' reactions when they first heard about the case, and whether their reactions had changed since that time.

Practically, how do you identify such jurors in the limited time you have available during voir dire? Tune in next month as we discuss some ideas.