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Jury Trial Innovations Second Edition Jury Trial Innovations Second Edition G. Thomas Munsterman, Paula L. Hannaford-Agor, and G. Marc Whitehead, editors i ©1997-2006 National Center for State Courts Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-65255 ISBN 0-089656-257-3 Second Printing March 1998 Third Printing December 2000 Fourth Printing, Second Edition, 2006 This report was originally developed by the National Center for State Courts under a grant from the State Justice Institute (No. SJI-93-12K-B-263). The points of view expressed do not necessarily represent the offi cial position or policies of the National Center for State Courts, the American Bar Association, or the State Justice Institute. ii Jury Trial Innovations Advisory Committee to the First Edition Hon. Richard M. Bilby (deceased) U.S. District Court, District of Arizona Tucson, Arizona Hon. B. Michael Dann (ret.) Williamsburg, Virginia Prof. Shari Diamond American Bar Foundation Northwestern University School of Law Chicago, Illinois Curtis E. von Kann, Esq. Ross, Dixon & Masback, L.L.P. Washington, D.C. Prof. Stephen Landsman De Paul University College of Law Chicago, Illinois Prof. R. Hanson Lawton South Texas School of Law Friendswood, Texas Hon. Howard McKibben U.S. District Court, District of Nevada Reno, Nevada Hon. H. Lee Sarokin (ret.) U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit Newark, New Jersey iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................1 Contributors to the First Edition ............................................................................................2 Preface to the Second Edition ..................................................................................................3 Introduction .............................................................................................................................5 Chapter 1 — How Jurors Make Decisions: The Value of Trial Innovations ........................ 7 Chapter 2 — Jury Administration and Management ...........................................................19 2.1 Citizen Education Campaigns About Jury Service ......................................................................................... 22 2.2 One-Day/One-Trial Terms of Jury Service ...................................................................................................... 25 2.3 A More Sensible Way to Pay Jurors ................................................................................................................. 27 2.4 Additional Source Lists .................................................................................................................................... 29 2.5 Stratifi ed Jury Selection ................................................................................................................................... 31 2.6 Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act ................................................................................... 33 2.7 Limited Releases from Jury Service ................................................................................................................ 35 2.8 Jury Orientation ............................................................................................................................................... 37 2.9 How to Relieve Juror Boredom ....................................................................................................................... 39 2.10 Jury Fee Donations .......................................................................................................................................... 41 2.11 Screening for English-Language Profi ciency .................................................................................................. 43 2.12 Reduced Jury-Panel Size .................................................................................................................................. 45 2.13 Follow-Up on Nonrespondents ....................................................................................................................... 47 2.14 Reducing the Number of Undeliverable Summonses .................................................................................... 49 Chapter 3 — Voir Dire (Or, in Plain English, Jury Selection) ............................................ 51 3.1 Lawyer-Conducted Voir Dire .......................................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Opening Statements to the Entire Jury Panel ................................................................................................ 58 3.3 Case-Specifi c Questionnaires to Assist Jury Selection ................................................................................... 61 3.4 Voir Dire in Chambers or at Sidebar .............................................................................................................. 64 3.5 Individualized Voir Dire .................................................................................................................................. 66 3.6 Batson Enforcement ........................................................................................................................................ 68 3.7 Reducing or Eliminating Peremptory Challenges .......................................................................................... 71 3.8 Routine Use of Anonymous Juries .................................................................................................................. 74 3.9 Nondesignation of Alternates and Jurors ........................................................................................................ 77 3.10 Variable Jury Size/No Alternate Jurors ........................................................................................................... 79 3.11 “Struck” Versus “Strike-and-Replace” Method of Jury Selection .................................................................. 80 3.12 Short Trial or Summary Jury Trial ................................................................................................................... 83 iv Jury Trial Innovations Chapter 4 — Pretrial Management ..................................................................................... 87 4.1 Pretrial Limits on Each Party’s Time at Trial .................................................................................................. 90 4.2 Pretrial Admission of Exhibits and Deposition Testimony ............................................................................ 92 4.3 Reordering the Sequence of Expert Testimony .............................................................................................. 94 4.4 Appointing Court Experts ............................................................................................................................... 96 4.5 Jury Tutorials .................................................................................................................................................... 99 4.6 Modifying Daily Schedules ............................................................................................................................ 101 4.7 Juror Notebooks ............................................................................................................................................. 102 4.8 Bifurcation or Trifurcation of Trial Procedures ............................................................................................ 104 4.9 Computer Simulations ................................................................................................................................... 107 4.10 Deposition Summaries .................................................................................................................................. 109 4.11 Place Cards or Seating Charts ....................................................................................................................... 111 Chapter 5 — Trial Procedures ............................................................................................ 113 5.1 Videotaped Trials for Absent Jurors .............................................................................................................. 116 5.2 Jurors View Videotaped Trial Rather than Live Testimony .......................................................................... 118 5.3 Projection of Real-Time Transcription .......................................................................................................... 120 5.4 Dual Juries ...................................................................................................................................................... 122 5.5 Juror Discussions of Evidence During the Trial ........................................................................................... 124 5.6 Juror Notetaking ............................................................................................................................................. 126 5.7 Jurors’ Submission of Questions for Witnesses ............................................................................................. 128 5.8 Shadow Juries ................................................................................................................................................. 130 5.9 Preinstructing the Jury ..................................................................................................................................
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