Jury reforms may expedite trials.

• Author: O'Tierney, Daniel Patrick

Trial practice and the role of the jury were in the spotlight last year as a result of the highly publicized trial of O.J. Simpson. In that case, jurors sat the better part of a year through a trial that produced some 50,000 pages of testimony, including a numbing amount of scientific evidence. And some observers predicted a hung jury.

Previously, this column reported on various reforms of the Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure designed to rein in the costs of litigation by introducing mandatory disclosure and discovery limitations. The state of Arizona preceded Alaska in the forefront of those litigation practice reforms.

Now the Arizona Supreme Court has adopted a comprehensive approach to reform of jury practices. Effective Dec. 1, 1995, the unprecedented changes are intended to assist jurors in sorting through evidence during the course of a civil trial.

An appointed panel of former jurors, judges, academics and lawyers made some 55 recommendations to the Arizona Supreme Court designed to aid jurors in understanding, handling and assessing evidence in a more efficient manner.

As a result, the Arizona court unanimously adopted numerous changes to its rules governing jury practices. For example, one change will allow jurors to pose questions to witnesses through the judge. As is the present practice in Alaska, Arizona jurors will also be allowed to take notes throughout civil trials. Moreover, jurors in Arizona will now be provided with special notebooks to compile and collate documentary evidence, witness photographs and jury instructions as the trial progresses. Judge Green in Fairbanks uses a form of notebook for jurors in complex civil cases.

Also, Arizona trial court judges will now have the discretion to allow jurors to discuss evidence in the juryroom during a civil trial. Fairbanks presiding Judge Savell has indicated an interest in implementing a similar practice. Arizona judges will also have the option of limiting the length of a trial and...