Have you ever WANTED to serve on a jury? You just received the letter in the mail informing
you that you have jury duty next month. However, instead of groaning about it, you're actually excited! Our next video will explain how to AVOID jury
duty, but today we ll discuss how to get picked for a jury. The first thing you need to know is that juries
are picked by de-selection, rather than selection. What does that mean? It means that individual jurors are not actually
picked to be on the jury. Instead, the people who end up on the jury
panel are the leftovers that weren't challenged off of the panel. Sounds like a real joy, right? At this stage, you are known as a venire-person
because at this stage, you are sitting on the venire-panel. For a 12-person jury, it isn't uncommon to
have at least 40-50 people on the venire-panel that will be whittled down to the final 12. The attorneys will be allowed to ask you questions
at this stage. They are attempting to learn more about you
as a citizen and to find out if you hold any personal views that might interfere with your
ability to be fair and impartial. Basically, they are trying to see who holds
a bias towards their client or towards the law that you'll have to apply. Well if you are trying to get on a jury, then
you do not want to be labeled as biased. For example, if you have a friend or family
member that is a police officer, then you might believe that police officers are always
truthful and you might give the testimony of a police officer extra credibility. Perhaps your trial is a family law matter,
and perhaps you believe that young children should always live with their mothers. If that's the case, then your views may be
biased towards one side and against the other. There is nothing illegal about having a bias,
it just means that this trial may not be the best one for you to sit on as a juror. If you have a bias for, or against,
a police officer, then that wouldn't matter in a custody dispute where no police officer
is expected to testify. The important thing to remember is that you
must tell the truth, even if it reveals that you may have a bias, because hiding a bias
simply to get on a jury could cause an unfair result for one side or the other After all of the questions have been asked
to the venire-panel, the attorneys will identify venire-persons to the Judge whom they believe
have such a bias that would prevent them from serving as a fair and impartial juror. This is what's known as a challenge for cause. If you get called up to the bench to visit
with the Judge, it could be that you gave an answer that made you appear to be biased. This isn't the end of the world because it
could have been an ambiguous question that you didn t understand. At this point, the Judge or one of the attorneys
may attempt to rehabilitate you by asking more questions about whether your views are
so strong that you are inclined toward one side or another. If you cannot be rehabilitated, then the Court
must strike you from the panel. Even if you do everything right, and aren't stricken for cause, you may still be excluded from the jury. In Texas, each side gets a certain number
of peremptory challenges. This means that they can strike members from
the panel without having to provide any justification whatsoever. So, even if your answers during voir dire
don't reveal any bias, you may not come across as a favorable juror for one side. As long as they do not use their peremptory
challenge to exclude you because of your race, creed, religion, national origin, etc., then
the challenge will stand. Whenever you arrive for jury duty, your seating will be randomly assigned. In Texas, your seating arrangement is actually important. The closer you are seated to the front, the
more likely you are to be seated on the actual jury panel. As I previously referenced, it is more about de-selection
than selection. Therefore, if no venire-members were stricken
for cause, and neither attorney used any peremptory challenge, then the first twelve venire-members
will be seated on the jury panel. Every time I conduct voir dire, the first
thing I explain to the venire-panel is the fastest way to get on a jury. The fastest way onto a jury is to remain quiet
because then the attorneys do not have an opportunity to uncover any bias. I also explain that the fastest way to get
out of jury duty is to speak up and answer every question that applies to them. As you can imagine, I usually get a lot of
participation after explaining that. Another secret to getting on a jury is to
make sure you tell the attorney that you want to serve on the jury. Obviously, most people aren t that excited
about sitting on a jury panel, and attorneys know that unhappy jurors are more likely
to be critical of their case. Therefore, if the attorney is trying to decide
whether to use a peremptory challenge on you or someone else, then they're more likely to
strike someone that doesn't want to be there. If you found this video helpful, then you
can help us grow by subscribing to our channel. If you know someone that has jury duty soon,
then please share this video with them. Be sure to check out some of the other videos,
and don't miss our next video about how to AVOID jury duty. From all of us here at Matthew Harris Law,
we appreciate you watching.
