The most frequent thing I am asked about deals with jury selection. For many lawyers this represents the most difficult part of the trial. I prepared some information about jury selection for a case going out and thought I’d repeat some very basic thoughts about the subject. SUBJECTS TO COVER ON VOIR DIRE What are the things you should talk about in jury selection? Here is the outline I follow: Discuss the key points in your case. Arrange issues by…
My wife Lita and I flew to Scottsdale, Arizona for Christmas. I grabbedsome materials I had stacked up for reading when I got time and had a chance to read through it. Here are a few thoughts I thought worth sharing One thing I read was a thin little pamhlet like book by attorney J.W. Donovan "The Twenty one Rules for Trial Success." It was a pretty elementary book but, a few ideas are worth repeating. It reported that ina…
The newspaper reports that there was a trial in Missoula, Montana where the defendant was being prosecuted for selling marijuana and charged with both afelony and misdemeanor. After the jury was told the charges, the newspaper reports a juror raised her hand and said "I’ve got a real problem with these marijuana cases." She explained that she thought was over charging for something that should be a crime. Then a couple more jurors raised their hands echoing the same thought…