Good article here on a growing practice. Trial lawyers use the internet to find out background on potential witnesses, potential parties, and even potential jurors. This includes social networking sites to find out what the real story is on someone involved in a case. The article raises questions about whether it’s ethical to dig into potential jurors’ internet postings. Assuming there’s no hacking involved, I don’t see any problem finding out as much as I can about a potential witness or juror.

I can learn a lot more about a person from reading her MySpace page than I can from the stifling and artificial question and answer session of jury selection that goes on in the courtroom.

The interesting part from the perspective of those of us in the trenches is the time clash.  Depending on the local rules, trial lawyers frequently don’t get names of prospective jurors until the beginning of jury selection. And often those are called out orally in open court, and you’re scrambling to record the name. Then, you might little or no time to question prospective jurors before deciding on whether to challenge or strike a potential juror. It’s that short window of time that is the most important to look for background.

Imagine that there are maybe 30-50 potential jurors being interviewed with decisions to be made in a matter of hours, sometimes less. The bottom line is that it’s very hard to do effective background searches under these conditions. Even so, we all try because a toxic juror who does not disclose bias in jury selection can unfairly destroy a case.

David Sugerman

The title is unfortunate, but this Oregonian piece gives a good feel for the critical importance of jury duty. I especially appreciate the extensive discussion of Judges Bearden, Walker, Wilson and LaBarre’s methods of promoting the importance of jury service.

I served on one jury in a criminal matter some years ago. It was an experience I will never forget.  I was impressed by the people who served with me. They understood that we serve in order to provide an open system of justice. There was grumbling, of course, as it’s neither fun nor easy. Still, it’s critical to the healthy functioning of our state.

The stories recounted in the linked article illustrate some of the true challenges of jury service. As well, you can find good first-hand accounts here and here from people who served in a high-profile case.

Jury service is not easy, convenient, or fun. Still, it is one of the most important roles any American can play to help maintain the integrity of our justice system.

David Sugerman

Great news. Another juror from the recent Craig Berkman trial contacted me following the most recent post about the Berkman case.  Jim served as the presiding juror. He is properly proud of the hard work that he and his colleagues did on the case. He’s apparently been following the thread on this case, and he weighed in with the following:

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I saw your blog posting about total damages and wanted to comment. The chicken scratch on the verdict form is mine – I was the presiding juror.

If you add up the amounts in questions 8, 9 and 19, the amount that the jury intended to award in economic or compensatory damages totaled $30,514,921. Note that’s separate from the $23M+ awarded against Arthur Anderson. And separate from the $15M in punitive damages awarded the following day.

But for reasons I don’t fully understand, the court interpreted some of the numbers differently and came up with a lower total number for the damages. This was despite two questions of clarification that were submitted to Judge Hodson during deliberations (and answered in what appeared to be a clear and concise manner). Many of the jurors were upset about that, particularly given it may have made Arthur Anderson look “more guilty” than Craig Berkman because the reported amount of damages against Anderson was more than Berkman. Further confusing the issue is that different amounts were reported in different news sources. Candidly, if we had known that the $30M total would be reduced, this probably would have affected the amount of punitive damages awarded.

Of course, this is probably a moot point given Mr. Berkman claims that he, personally, and his companies are millions in debt and it’s questionable how much the victims will end up receiving.

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More from David: Jim is referring to the verdict form that is posted in this entry.

Jim-As with your colleague in her earlier post, it’s apparent that you and the other jurors served attentively and worked hard to do the right thing in this case.  Once again, it shows the strength and integrity of the Oregon jury system. Kind of makes me proud to be part of this thing.  Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us.  Even though I have no connection to your case, I want to thank you and your colleagues for your service.

David Sugerman