LAW OFFICES OF PETER J. CYR

Selecting the jury is an important stage in the trial process. Our attorneys are familiar with the local practices and procedures for selecting a jury from a panel of the venire.

Prior to jury selection, our attorneys review the prospective juror list and consider how certain age, occupation, and gender demographics could affect the jury. When appropriate, we develop a list of questions designed to:

(1) elicit information about the attitudes and potential biases of individual jurors, which will inform our attorney’s decision on how best to eliminate potential jurors and

(2) convey to the panel certain legal principles that are critical to the defense case.

These questions may be asked in open court in a process known as jury voir dire. In certain cases, however, the questions are asked in the form of a written confidential juror questionnaire.

There are two ways to eliminate potential jurors:

(1)   a “challenge for cause” is when an attorney asks the court to eliminate a potential juror based on evidence that he or she could not be a fair and unbiased juror in a particular case, and

(2)   in every case, both the defense and the prosecution are allowed to exercise a certain number of “peremptory strikes,” which automatically eliminate potential jurors without the need of any explanation to the court.