Jury questions?

Question

When you get picked for jury do they ask you questions to each person or as a group? like do you go in the room alone and they ask you one on one? or as a whole group and everyone has to answer IN the group

Answer 1

Depends upon the nature of the trial, and which particular court.

If it is an extremely important trial, such as a murder trial, you may get a long questionaire to fill out, come back on another day, and be interviewed one on one by the attorneys (while sitting by yourself in the jury box).  That's what happened to me when I was a potential juror for a murder trial that would have taken 3 months (I was not selected because they filled the jury before they got to me).

If it is a "lesser" trial, you will be asked in the group (as all 14 of you, including the alternates, sit in the jury box, and the remainder of the "pool" sits in the spectator seats of the courtroom).  Mostly you will be asked one at a time.  Not everyone will be asked all questions.  Sometimes they may ask something general of everyone, like "does anyone here have a problem with xxxx" (depending upon what the trial is about and what the issues may be).  That's what happened to me recently for a "DUI" trial (I did end up on the jury in that case).

Answer 2

You will all be in one room and they will ask you questions one at a time.  If you don't feel comfortable answering a question in front of the group, then you just have to say so and they will talk to you with just the judge and lawyers, separate from the group of potential jurors.

Answer 3

That will depend. If there are issues that might come up in the trial that involve sensitive questions, you might be questioned individually. This is relatively rare. Most of the time 12 people are put in the jury box and the judge and/or attorneys ask questions that are relevant to the issues involved in the trial. They may ask the same question of all 12 or might skip around, especially if they see some facial expression etc. in response to asking someone a question.