Voir Dire

By Ann

“My name is Ms. Defender and I have the privilege of representing this man.”  I point to the man seated next to me and I hope that no one notices the huge tattoo on his neck or his wrinkled clothes.   Ninety people are jammed into this courtroom and they are all quietly staring at me.   I am probably not what they expected when they heard they were going to be picked as jurors on a felony offense.    After all, the image of the fast talking used car salesman type in a slick suit and an expensive pinky ring is a pervasive stereotype in the minds of the general public.  Truth be told, I look more like a flight attendant than a slick lawyer or even a used car salesman for that matter.  Usually, this works to my advantage, however, today the prosecutor and the judge were both attractive women who didn’t look like their prospective stereotypes either.

I began the voir dire.  That is just a fancy way of saying I get to ask the jury questions to see if the members of this pool are fair and impartial.  Being fair and impartial means that a juror will look at the facts and evidence presented and make a decision based only on that and not on anything else.  The object of voir dire is to ensure that the accused is afforded a fair trial.

This is a big fat exercise in futility.  People who are prejudicial, biased, crazy, or vindictive rarely raise their hand and let us know.  Nonetheless, voir dire is an excellent opportunity for me to get to know them as best I can.  And the reality is that it is at this time that your jurors pick which lawyer they like better.   Frankly, I believe that the verdict is largely based on who the jury likes better.

I begin my questions and start the old dog and pony show.   Some people laugh and get involved, while others sit there in a catatonic state.   I know that the ones that laugh and identify with me will be quickly struck by the prosecution but voir dire is still a great opportunity that cannot be ignored by any competent litigator.

After the voir dire, the defense and the prosecutor  get to strike people we don’t want on the jury.  We have a list of papers with the jurors’ names and we each take a turn crossing off people.  This is called peremptory strikes.  It is a felony trial so I get to strike seven people and so does the prosecutor.   We get to get rid of anybody for almost any reason (with limits like it can’t be for race).   Of course, during the voir dire, we get unlimited strikes for cause (racist, prejudiced, biased, impartial, etc.).   

I look at the mass of people sitting patiently in front of me.  This is hard because the people who don’t get picked don’t really know why.  They don’t know who got rid of them and I suspect they always think it’s me.  I hate being a part of making some people feel rejected and unwanted.  I have gone through all of the questionnaires, I have asked people questions, I have gotten rid of the man wearing a sign that reads “the end is near” and the teen-aged goth chick who kept giggling with her imaginary friend.  

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 But I still have one person left to strike.   I can see the looks.  They wonder who I am getting rid of.  They wonder at my strategy and they probably guess how my legal training and ability will shape the fate of the last juror.  

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Well here it is.   

 

Inny minny miney moe… out you go.  

  

And where my pen drops is the name that gets excused.