Jury Trial Analysis Paper
Joy Tejeda
University of Phoenix
Criminal Procedure
CJA/364
Albert Cobos
February 29, 2012

Jury Trial Analysis Paper
Jurors have a big responsibility in a criminal trial. They make the final decision whether to charge an individual guilty of a crime. Jurors must remain open-minded and free of bias while they observe any evidence during trial. Because having an unbiased jury is critical to having a fair trial, the defendant has the right to have a jury pool that consists of a fair range of the community. A jury pool, or venire, is a collection of potential jurors assembled together for jury duty ("Lawyers.com", 2011). The jurors are chosen from the jury pool for the upcoming criminal trial. When assembling a jury pool they cannot exclude someone based on their religion, race or sex. A jury pool is selected randomly from all possible jurors. The key source for selecting potential jurors comes from voter registration lists. Although the outcome of choosing from this list may not result in a fair cross-section of the community potential jurors can also be chosen by other list, such as tax rolls, licensed driver lists, phone books or city directories. Not everyone who is mailed a summons has to report for jury duty. There are some who may be excused, exempt or disqualified. If jury duty proves to be an extreme hardship or inconvenience, it is possible you will be excused. Other reasons for being excused may be they are over the age of 70 or is an actively practicing nurse or attorney. There are six main steps in a jury trial; the first is the selection of a jury. Attorneys and the judge then question the potential jurors in a process called voir dire, which means to speak the truth. This is done so the judge can find out if the prospective jurors are qualified to serve. They want to make sure that the jury is not prejudice or have a personal interest in the case that may affect their decisions in the case. Attorneys are allowed by law to excuse jurors from particular cases. These are called Challenges. Challenges can be peremptory or for cause. A for cause challenge is a request that a prospective juror be dismissed because there is a specific and forceful reason to believe the person cannot be fair, unbiased or capable of serving as a juror. A peremptory challenge is the right of the plaintiff and the defendant in a jury trial to have a juror dismissed before trial without stating a reason ("Law.com", 2012). Once the jury is selected, there is a total of 12 jurors.
The next step is opening statements, the defense and the prosecutor have the opportunity to outline the proof that will be presented to the jury during the trial. An opening statement is not proof, it is probability of what each side expects the evidence to prove.
Step three is presentation of evidence and testimony of witnesses. The counsel makes their opening statements for each side, evidence is then presented. Evidence can consist of weapons, photographs or documents. Then testimonies are given, direct and cross examination is done and once each side has presented all their evidence they rest their case. The attorneys review the evidence and try to convince the jury to find in favor of their client.
Now that the cases have been presented before the jury the judge will now present the jury with instructions. This is called charging the jury. The judge explains relevant points of the law, he informs them of the law that governs the case. Jurors must then reach a verdict based on the laws as they are they discuss the case freely and according to the judges’ instructions.
During jury deliberation a foreman of the jury is elected. A foreperson is one that sees to it that all issues are discussed fully and that each juror participated in a fairly manner. Should the jurors have a question during deliberation they write it down and hand it to the bailiff who then gives it to the judge. Once the jury agrees upon a verdict they sign the form and it is read by the courtroom clerk. The judge then dismisses the jurors.

References
Law.com. (2012). Retrieved from http://dictionary.law.com
Lawyers.com. (2011). Retrieved from http://criminal.lawyers.com