As discussed in the last post, keeping yourself organized is the first priority in any jury selection process. It is critical to keep your mind clear and focused on the key information you need about potential jurors. Today, I will discuss one potential piece of the process: juror questionnaires.
The Benefits of Juror Questionnaires
Especially in complex or high-profile cases, juror questionnaires are extraordinarily helpful. They take a lot of burden and time off of the voir dire process by having jurors provide information in a written format. You can uncover dangerous opinions without panel contamination and use voir dire as a follow up instead of as your preliminary source of information. Moreover, I have found that jurors are more forthcoming in questionnaires. Without the social pressure of the judge, trial teams and other jurors listening, jurors have more freedom to write what they really think.
So, juror questionnaires are great … if you are permitted to use them. A client once told me a story of a jury consultant who, like me, was a big advocate of juror questionnaires. My client had the consultant spend hours (translation: a lot of money) creating an extensive questionnaire for one of his cases. When the team submitted the questionnaire to the court, the judge revealed that he did not permit questionnaires in his court, and that case would be no exception.
Look Before you Leap
I repeat my advice from the last posting: Ask. This time, you should have this discussion directly with the judge so you can discuss the benefits of such a tool (e.g., for a court that allows attorney voir dire, it will save a lot of time).
I have also found that judges have been more willing to accept juror questionnaires when both sides have already agreed to it. Therefore, it may also help for you to share and let the other side contribute some of their questions to the document as well.
How to Use Questionnaires
If the court allows you to submit a questionnaire, you have to make sure you can actually use it. That means, in many cases, it has to be strategic, short and sweet. If you are going to get the completed questionnaires an hour before the process starts, long, detailed questionnaires will get you nothing but confused. In some courts (Los Angeles County is an example), you may get the completed documents a day or so ahead of time. Obviously, with more time to peruse, you would have more freedom to add more detailed questions.
So, whether the court has a standard questionnaire or you are able to submit one to the court, what do you do with that stack of completed papers? A clear sense of what you are looking for is key so you can get through each questionnaire quickly and identify those folks who are riskiest to your case. My advice: Get help.
It is impossible to simultaneously pay attention to the proceedings, participate in motion arguments and read all of the critical information in those questionnaires. Regardless of who it is (a trusted consultant, associate or partner) make sure you have a person who is assigned to look through all of the relevant information in the questionnaire (see my earlier post: Are You Taking Full Advantage of Your Juror Questionnaire?)Whoever is going through the questionnaires should filter to you only the relevant information. That way, you can focus on what you need to focus on and move ahead on your feet more quickly and efficiently.
Melissa M. Gomez, Ph.D. is a jury consultant and owner of MMG Jury Consulting, LLC. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her experience includes work on more than 100 jury trials in Philadelphia and across the country, with a focus on the psychology of juror learning, behavior and decision-making. She has more than a decade of expertise in research design and methodology, as well as in behavioral and communication skills training.
This posting is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as advice specific to any matter. Each case is different and no strategy applies uniformly to all.
If you have any questions regarding jury psychology that you would like to see addressed in this blog, please contact Dr. Gomez at [email protected] or call 215-292-7956.
Melissa M. Gomez, Ph.D
MMG Jury Consulting, LLC
www.mmgjury.com
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