On Legal Ethics

You are selecting a jury on a high-profile case that has generated lots of media attention. Both you and your opponent have been hounded by reporters who have been attempting to get you to discuss your spin on the case.

Legal commentators have been tearing apart your case on the news, speculating about how your witnesses will do and what results will be reached by your prospective jurors. As your panel answers questions during voir dire you become increasingly suspicious that some people may want to serve on the jury for reasons other than fulfilling their civic duty. On the other hand, you don't want to miss out on having well-intentioned people serve on your jury just because you are skeptical about why they seem enthusiastic to serve.

Identifying "stealth" jurors

"Stealth" jurors are people who want to serve on your case for reasons other than fulfilling their civic duty. This is sometimes a problem in high-profile cases.

You don't want someone who plans to profit from writing a book about the trial as soon as it's over, or someone who only wants to sit as a juror for bragging rights, or to propound their own agenda and unfairly influence the outcome of the case.

In order to identify these people, be on the look out for jurors who seem to want to be jurors, and those who don't. There are three kinds of jurors in this respect, those who want to get out of jury duty, those who want to serve and those who are fine with whatever happens. Unless they fall in the last category, their answers may be tailored depending on their particular agenda. You want those who want to stay on the panel, if their motive is just that the case sounds interesting, or they want an opportunity to fulfill their civic duty. So how do you tell the difference?

Verbal answers

The simplest and most direct way to uncover clues about stealth jurors is to ask them how they feel about serving as a juror in your case for the next two weeks or whatever the time period is, and let them talk. You may be surprised at the honesty of some of the answers; and you also may be able to tell whose body language and demeanor do not match their answers, which will give you great insight into their credibility.

Most stealth jurors, however, are not going to say anything that they think may give away their true motives, so you may need to look at other things. One way to identify these jurors is to pay attention to people who answer questions from both sides the way they think the lawyer asking the questions would want them answered, even if that means giving inconsistent responses.

Also take note of what someone does for a living that may be consistent with wanting to profit from sitting on a high profile case, such as writing, speaking, producing or other media-type jobs. Also consider exploring affiliation with like-minded organizations, such as writing or publishing clubs, which can provide great clues as to the scope of a prospective juror's interest in your case.

Physical appearance

You also may be able to identify stealth jurors by their attempt to look the part of the perfect juror. Consider the demure woman in a floral dress and pearls that upon closer examination has a large tattoo on her ankle. Such a symbol could be left over from a wilder youth, or could signify a rebellious personal streak that would not otherwise be apparent. Or she might be someone who dresses the part of a conservative woman in order to be selected as a juror, when in reality she has very different motives for wanting to sit on your case.

In some cases, stealth jurors are obvious because of their easy-to-spot attempt to dress the part. You may become suspicious of this when a juror who works in a blue-collar job comes to court dressed in a suit and overemphasizes his or her ability to be fair. Sometimes this ploy has the opposite effect because this inconsistency may make the lawyers suspicious that such a juror may have a hidden agenda. On the other hand, many people wear their best clothes for jury duty out of respect for the court process and accordingly, genuinely have a strong desire to sit on important cases in order to do the right thing! (You can already see these issues are part of why jury consultants make so much money!)

Please tune in next month for the continuation of our Jury Selection series.