Law Religion Culture Review

Exploring the intersections of law, religion and culture. Copyright by Richard J. Radcliffe. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Jury Duty.

Here is another litigation story, but this one is not first-hand. It's quasi-first-hand because it comes from my sister.

She was performing her jury service this week and was assigned to a "domestic dispute" criminal case. The defense attorney was conducting "voir dire", which means he was asking questions of the jurors to elicit any latent biases.

The attorney asked a juror what the juror would think if he stepped into an elevator with another person where it was obvious that someone had just "farted" (his word). Would he give the occupant of the elevator "the benefit of the doubt" or would he immediate judge him guilty of the offense? Or, would the juror withhold judgment on the ground that perhaps someone else "farted" and departed the elevator before the juror had stepped into the malodorous confines?

Folks, I can't make this stuff up.