Seattle DUI Attorney | Jury Selection
I know this supposed to be a blog primarily about Seattle DUI attorney news, but I thought I’d spice it up a little with a little bit of information about jury selection. After all, when you get to trial, selecting the jury is one of the key components of the case, particularly when you are talking about a DUI charge.
So, what is the ideal juror for a DUI trial? The short answer is there is no right answer. People, even if they fall into a specific demographic, race, sex, or religion that you have found in the past are sympathetic to your client, are still their own person. A great Seattle DUI defense attorney once told me that the key to good jury selection is getting the jurors comfortable enough that you can peek into their soul a little bit and see who they really are.
This is done in one major way – talking about yourself, making yourself vulnerable, and letting the jurors reflect on your story. Here’s a great example:
when I was a kid, there was this one time when I was in grade school changing classes. It was winter time, so I had on this bright red sweater to keep me warm. As I was heading to class, a teacher stopped me and said she saw someone with a red sweater running through the halls and I was going to do detention for it. I knew it wasn’t me, but how was I supposed to prove that I hadn’t done something? Anyone ever have that happen to them before?
And you’re off and running, because I guarantee you someone has had a situation like that happen to them before. Then, all of a sudden, you can turn it back to your client.
Does anyone then, understand or not understand that we are not here to prove Joe was sober enough to drive that night, but that there isn’t enough evidence he was DUI?
And from there you’ll get a couple of more answers.
It takes practice, it takes some time to think about what you want to say (just as it takes time for Seattle DUI attorneys to become great), and it takes learning to listen to what the jurors actually say. But picking a jury can be done successfully.
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