Be REALLY Honest with the Jury!
Clay S. Conrad at jurygeek takes the Texas Young Lawyers Association to task for publishing an article on their webpage, American Juror, that tells the public that attorneys, during voir dire, are looking for unbiased jurors who can weigh the facts fairly and decide the truth no matter where that may lead them. Mr. Conrad maintains that if we tell the prospective jurors just that, we are lying thourgh our teeth and most jurors will figure that out and when they do there goes our credibility.
I agree. We are looking for jurors who will be the most biased towards our case and who are close to the line at getting bumped for cause. And we want to knock out those who are most biased towards the other side's case. Attorneys all know that and those that will step forward and say so will gain credibility. I once heardPaul Luvera give a talk on jury voir dire wherein he said just that. He tells the jurors that he is looking for a jury that is allready leaning his way and that opposing counsel is looking for one that will lean towards their side. That is the truth and the jury should hear the truth.
