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bbrookin bbrookin
 
M$3 January 13, 2009 08:23 PM

If you've served on a jury, were there 'difficult' personalities and how were they addressed by the group?

I'm interested in first-hand accounts from people who have served in almost any type of jury: criminal, civil, grand, whatever. For instance, was someone overbearing, or was the group indecisive and how did you get past this?
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djscram djscram
 
 January 13, 2009 08:45 PM
I've served on both petite juries and on a grand jury. I'd say that most people were actually pretty thoughtful and willing to work to solve the problem. The biggest problems were usually people who wanted to talk about broader social issues. The cases we saw did raise these issues, but it wasn't the right forum, and sometimes led to a lot of conflict. A good foreperson needs to keep the discussion focused. Even if someone's off-topic opinions seem benign, someone else may well get offended, then you're off.
Also, it's very important to be even-handed. Cut everyone off for getting off-topic, otherwise the one person who is really annoying will notice and get offended, leading to further problems.
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• Thanks for the best overall observation. It meshes with (and supports) my own experiences. Well done!


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abbotofunr... abbotofunr...
 
January 13, 2009 08:41 PM
I was on a jury that had a single indecisive person and we were never able to get around it, so we came back with no verdict. She seemed to think it was not her job to judge anybody and that she couldn't call someone guilty. We tried to convince her to convince us that the defendant deserved to go fee -- because if she didn't, there was just going to be another trial and _they_ might convict him -- but that didn't sway her. She wouldn't interact with us at all. I think if you have that kind of an opinion, that's fine, but it should be stated up front so we don't waste 3 days of our time and of the court system's time and money.

So, in answer to your question: we tried to appeal to the indecisive juror's sense of duty and to her sense of justice, but neither worked.

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jonathan h jonathan h
 
January 13, 2009 09:07 PM
I was on an indecent exposure case 3 years ago. It was pretty cut-and-dry, but I was worried I would have to be Henry Fonda and try to convince everyone of my point of view. It turns out, we all essentially agreed to vote "not guilty," though there were two or three jurors who wanted to get it done right away and one other guy was very adamant that we at least spend a few minutes discussing it, just with the idea of due diligence.

The case only lasted a few days, so it certainly wasn't a terribly demanding process, and we ended up deliberating for about 40 minutes before we sent through the verdict, which was really the first time any of us spoke. A few people started to ignore the judge's orders to not discuss the case, but the rest of us quickly put an end to that.

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