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A not so level playing field: Prosecutors Run NCIC Checks on Jurors While You Conduct Guesswork

By Tom Lincoln

While you are practically blindly conducting what amounts to almost a joke of a voir dire in jury selection, is it possible that the prosecutors are way ahead of you having run background checks of the prospective jurors in federal databases? I always felt uneasy when I saw a federal prosecutor get the prospective jurors' list and hand it off to some US Attorney's Office secretary or legal assistant. Why? I figured that since the U.S. Attorney's office is one firm handling all criminal prosecutions in federal court, they would certainly be able to keep tabs on jurors who had served previously and how the verdicts had come down.  Quite an advantage over the myriad solo practitioners litigating against the government! But check out this article in Law...continue to full post

Full post as published by Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on November 24, 2004 (boomark / email).