Jury Selection Disadvantages to Indigent Defendant

Jury selection can make or break a case. For many attorneys, the main focus of a case, whether as defense or as prosecution, involves picking the right set of individuals to serve on the jury. In many states, the meticulous process of picking a jury can lead to significant legal expenses and create a significant backlog in trial dates and hearings.

For some states, however, the process of jury selection is well controlled and streamlined. In fact, in some states, the timeframe in which to select a jury is often limited to just a few days. The underlying reason, many believe, in limited time for jury selection lies in the cost associated with delaying trial. Because many defendants are indigent, requiring court appointed attorneys, the cost to delay a trial, even one day, can be quite significant resulting in use of taxpayer money needlessly.

To further streamline the process of jury selection, some states are now implementing the use of general questionnaires along with the jury summons. While the questionnaire rarely asks questions specific to any case, it can be used to identify gender, age, marital status and ethnicity, information all useful to the attorneys involved in jury selection. Upon arriving to the jury selection room, many jurors can be dismissed immediately based on this simple criterion.

With jury selection is streamlined and limited in many states, the goal of these processes is to control costs and timing of hearings and trials. To the disadvantage of the indigent defendant, often, these restrictions may limit the ability to find a good set jury for the case. In addition to these disadvantages, many states permit prosecuting attorneys to hire jury consultants as part of the jury selection process. However, because most defendants are represented by state or court appointed attorneys, jury consultants are not used as there are no funds available for their hire. As a result, the prosecution is already placed at an advantage in the trial of the case.