Judicial Survey Questions

GAO Q57: Please describe your jury selection process.

GAO A57: I conduct a general voir dire of the venire panel, asking for yes or no answers to questions bearing on the jurors’ ability to be fair and impartial. That is followed by a side-bar follow-up with individual jurors. I conduct all the voir dire questioning in both settings, although I may permit some follow-up questioning by counsel at side-bar after my questioning is concluded. I entertain cause objections to individual jurors as part of this process. When there are enough cause-free jurors, counsel will exercise peremptory challenges. This is also done at side- bar. The government in a criminal case, and the plaintiff in a civil case, will exercise as many peremptory challenges to the jurors in the box as desired, and the defendant in each case will then do the same. Those jurors are excused and replaced with new jurors chosen from the venire panel. Only the newly seated jurors may be the object of further peremptory challenges. In this second round of peremptories, the defense will exercise challenges first, followed then by the government/plaintiff. Selection continues in this manner, alternating which side exercises first in any given round, until the allocated peremptory challenges have been exhausted or the parties declare themselves satisfied.

Related Topics:
* O'Toole, George A. Jr.

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts