Common questions - criminal cases

• Author: Christina Marinakis
• Pages: 369-408

COMMON QUESTIONS:

CRIMINAL CASES

11-1

CHAPTER 11

COMMON QUESTIONS 

CRIMINAL CASES

I. MAIN TOPICSOVERVIEW

II. PATTERN VOIR DIRE QUESTIONS

A. Excusing for Cause or Hardship

§11:01 Knowledge of Lawyers, Parties, Witnesses, Other Jurors

§11:02 Financial Interest in the Case

§11:03 Length of Trial

§11:04 Ability to Serve

B. Demographic Questions

§11:05 Neighborhood

§11:06 Personal History

§11:07 Employment History

§11:08 Political Aff‌iliation

§11:09 Religiosity

C. Interests, Hobbies, Values

§11:10 Memberships

§11:11 Evidence of Values

§11:12 Leisure

D. Sources of Information

§11:13 Reading Material

§11:14 Television/Radio

§11:15 Computer Use

§11:16 High-Prof‌ile Cases

[§§11:17-11:19 Reserved]

E. Legal Knowledge and Work Experience

§11:20 Experience, Education in Law—Generally

§11:21 Case -Related Work Experience

F. Experience With the Justice System

§11:22 Prior Experience With a Similar Case

§11:23 Prior Jury Service

§11:24 Experience With the Law, Government and Attitudes Toward Law Enforcement

§11:25 Experience With Crime

§11:26 Prisons, Jails, Detention Centers

COMMON QUESTIONS:

CRIMINAL CASES

Pattern Voir Dire Questions 11-2

G. Attitudes Toward Crime and the Criminal Justice System

§11:27 Burden of Proof, Presumption of Innocence

§11:28 Jury Nullif‌ication

§11:29 Sentencing

§11:30 Attitudes Toward Crime

§11:31 Attitudes Toward the Parties

§11:32 Interaction With Police Off‌icers

§11:33 Expert Witnesses

H. Final Questions

COMMON QUESTIONS:

CRIMINAL CASES

11-3 Common Questions — Criminal Cases

I. MAIN TOPICSOVERVIEW

PRACTICE POINT

Although questions throughout this text are written in the second person, as if addressing one juror directly,

when conducting voir dire of the entire panel (or a subset of the panel), yes or no questions should be directed

to the group as a whole. Assume that someone in the pool will respond aff‌irmatively by asking, “How many

of you believe….” as opposed to “Do you believe….”

Θυεστιονσ ιν τηισ χηαπτερ αρε το βε υσεδ ιν αλλ χριµιναλ χασεσ. Βεγιν ϖοιρ διρε ωιτη τηεσε θυεστιονσ ανδ τηεν ασκ

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

 χαυσε ορ ηαρδσηιπ





 δεµογραπηιχ θυεστιονσ αβουτ τηειρ νειγηβορ−





 ιντερεστσ, ηοββιεσ, ανδ ϖαλυεσ?

 σουρχεσ οφ ινφορµατιον?

 λεγαλ κνοωλεδγε ανδ/ορ χασε−ρελατεδ ωορκ εξπεριενχε?

6.  εξπεριενχε ωιτη τηε ϕυστιχε σψστεµ 

  



 αττιτυδεσ τοωαρδ χριµε ανδ τηε χριµιναλ ϕυστιχε σψστεµ

 περσοναλ ρεσερϖατιονσ αβουτ σερϖινγ ον τηε ϕυρψ



PRACTICE POINT: Make effective use of your mini-opening before you question jurors

In the hopes of piquing the interest of jurors and minimizing hardship requests, more and more judges are encour-

aging the parties to make “mini-openings” prior to voir dire. An effective mini-opening statement is one that downplays

your case strengths and beefs up your opponent’s case. Though it sounds counterintuitive, you have to preview the

weaknesses in your case in order to uncover the jurors who will never be able to look past those weaknesses. Once

these jurors reveal themselves, you may be able to get them excused for cause. For example, in a criminal case:

The prosecution might say:

In this case, the government intends to prove that Mr. Jones was an accomplice to the robbery of First

American Bank. Although there were no eyewitnesses who identif‌ied Mr. Jones at the scene, we believe the

evidence will show he was there during the robbery to act as a lookout. And even though Mr. Jones has no

criminal history, we believe he was not only involved in this crime, but that he orchestrated the entire thing.

Presumably, this statement would allow the prosecutor to identify and remove jurors who would be reluctant

to convict Mr. Jones without an eyewitness, as well as those who may give him the benef‌it of the doubt since

he did not have a criminal history.

The defense attorney in this case might say:

We believe the evidence is going to show that Mr. Jones was not involved in this robbery, which

involved his brother and close friend. Even though Mr. Jones was seen on camera several times at

the bank in the days prior and did not make any transactions, we believe he had a lawful right to

be there, and that does not in any way prove he was involved in the robbery. The large purchases

that Mr. Jones made in the days following the robbery were made with funds he earned from lawful

means, so there is no evidence to connect Mr. Jones to the crime.

In the subsequent voir dire, the defense attorney should be able to identify and remove jurors who may

f‌ind Mr. Jones guilty by association, as well as those who will f‌ind the circumstances too suspicious for Mr.

Jones to not have been involved.

To learn more about how to make effective use of your mini-opening, see §1:05.1.