Inquiry on jury selection

[Robert Sheridan]

Voir dire questioning goes both to intelligent exercise of peremptory 
challenges and for cause challenges.  Awhile since I looked, but Wheeler 
and Batson come to mind as USSC cases in the area, generally having to 
do with race, but probably leading to other areas of concern.  The 
object is to find jurors who can or cannot be fair and impartial to both 
sides.  If the prospective juror has any belief inconsistent with the 
ability to do this, a question designed to root out this information 
ought to be sufficient, I should think.  Isn't this a matter within the 
discretion of the trial judge based on what has been disclosed by the 
parties?  The other side has a right to object.  If a juror says he 
couldn't be fair to the governor because of his policy on littering, I 
don't see why a for-cause challenge shouldn't lie.

rs

On 6/3/2010 5:06 PM, Curtis, Michael K. wrote:
> I don't know. But if jurors thought the Gov caused the economic crisis
> or made it worse, that might affect their judgment on legal issues that
> are quite distinct from that.  Say Hoover had been charged with some
> federal crime and potential jurors blamed him for the Great Depression.
> Is that fact reasonable to consider in whether they could be impartial.
> I would think so.
>
> Michael Curtis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
> [mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of
> rbradley at ilstu.edu
> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 6:21 PM
> To: conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
> Subject: Inquiry on jury selection
>
>
> Can a proper basis for a cause challenge in juror selection be an
> individual's beliefs about the role of a governor in the economic
> situation of a state? In the federal trial of the ex-governor of
> Illinois the judge apparently is going to assess the feelings of
> potential jurors about the ex-governor's role in the state's current
> economic crisis to determine whether they can make a fair and unbiased
> determination of the ex-gov's guilt or innocence.
>
> Bob
>
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