"Never forget, almost every case has been won or lost when the jury is sworn." - Clarence Darrow 1936
"The change of a single juror in the composition of the jury could change the result." - Ter Keurst v. Miami Elevator Co., 486 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1986), Justice Adkins, Dissenting
"Trial by jury is the best of all safeguards for the person and property of every individual." - Thomas Jefferson
Last week the 4th DCA summarily dispensed with an appeal regarding a Neil challenge due to counsel’s failure to renew his objection before the jury was sworn. In Pozo v. State, 963 So. 2d 831 (Fla 4th DCA 2007) the Defendant objected during jury selection to the State’s striking of a Hispanic juror. However, he failed to renew his objection before the jury was sworn. The Court held that the […]
August 13, 2007
That’s what Rhovan Curtis, of Coconut Creek, learned after reporting to state court in Fort Lauderdale on July 23, his 20th birthday. When Judge Joel Lazarus told the pool of potential jurors to return after lunch, Curtis asked if he could be excused. His friends were “firing up the grill” for his birthday barbecue, he explained. The judge said no. After the lunch break, Curtis was a no-show.On Wednesday, he […]
August 2, 2007
During jury selection in a first degree murder case, the prosecutor paraphrased the standard jury instruction on premeditation, and made certain statements regarding the presumption of innocence. The Supreme Court held it was not error to do so because the prosecutor’s comments were “largely identical to the standard jury instruction,” and, at the conclusion of the case, the jury was correctly instructed on both the presumption of innocence and premeditation. Belcher […]
July 23, 2007
Last week’s conviction of media mogul Conrad Black leaves a near unbroken string of recent CEO guilty verdicts. Black, who was convicted in federal district court of mail fraud and obstruction of justice, was so confident of acquittal that he once quipped during the trial that the prosecution’s case was “hanging like a toilet seat around their necks.” Oh well. In any event, the parties used a 45 page juror questionnaire during […]
July 17, 2007
An article in today’s New York Times reports that whites are overrepresented in New York jury pools. A survey of over 12,000 potential jurors was conducted by Citizen Action of New York, a public interest group in Albany. The study found that the people who show up for jury duty in Manhattan are disproportionately white, and that hispanics are the most underrepresented group. I have heard many trial lawyers in Florida […]
June 27, 2007
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