The Florida Jury Selection Blog

"Jury selection is a critically important process and that it can be maddeningly difficult. We walk a tightrope over a minefield trying to find jurors who can be truly open-minded; people who will open up their hearts and minds to hear our client’s case. And we know from experience that in order for true justice to prevail, the jury that decides the case must be nothing less than omni exceptione majores—above all challenge."

Author: Author Bob Kelley is the founding partner of the Kelley Uustal Trial Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Blawg Related Categories: Tort Law • Injury & Accident Law • Trials & Litigation • Juries • States • Florida • Solo / Small Firm

Recent Posts from The Florida Jury Selection Blog

Prospective Juror Not “Under Prosecution.”
On the day the jury was sworn - after a week of voir dire - a prospective juror got a traffic ticket. The ticket was for the “crime” of knowingly driving on a suspended license,…
“Conflicting Views” Raise a Reasonable Doubt
Today the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a criminal conviction because the trial judge failed to strike for cause a juror who “held conflicting views” on the presumption of innocence. Initially, during jury selection the juror…
Update on Juror Pay
The section of The Florida Jury Selection blog dealing with juror pay has been updated thanks to the work of my brilliant law clerk, Kristin Bianculli. One of the most common concerns of potential jurors…
U.S. Supreme Court and Racially Discriminatory Strikes
The Supreme Court of the United States reversed a brutal murder conviction yesterday concluding that the prosecutor’s peremptory strike of a black college student appeared to be racially discriminatory. In Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S.…
Ban on Using Nationality to Exclude Jurors is Upheld
This Wednesday’s New York Times reports that a federal district court judge has concluded that allowing American-born blacks on a Bronx jury but systematically excluding West Indian-born blacks from the jury is discriminatory. Federal Judge William H. Pauley III…
Whitby Walks
Edgar Sylvester Whitby was prosecuted for permanently disfiguring his victim by throwing hot water on her. He was convicted of aggravated battery ”by a clearly impartial jury” in an “otherwise error free” trial. But Edgar is a free…
“Prudent Probing” During Jury Selection
A $900,000 plaintiff’s verdict in a rear-end collision case was reinstated last Friday by the Fifth District Court of Appeal even though two jurors had failed to disclose in voir dire that they had been injured…
Cause Challenges for Caps On Damages and Rising Insurance Rates
This week, in Rodriguez v. Lagomasino, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed a defense verdict in an auto accident case because the trial judge failed to strike two questionable jurors for cause. During voir dire,…
Harris Releases Poll on Jury Duty
The Harris Corporation released a poll on jury duty yesterday. Harris Poll on Jury Duty. The poll contains some interesting findings on who is most likely to show up for jury duty and actually end…
“A Clear, Direct Question”
A jury in Miami awarded $3.9 million to the mother of a young woman who was killed by a drunk driver. After the verdict, the State Farm defense attorneys found out for the first time that the jury foreman’s father had been an…