Local Rule General L.R. 47: Selecting Jurors

General L.R. 47. Selecting Jurors

(a) Voir Dire of Prospective Jurors. The Court may conduct the voir dire examination of prospective jurors or permit the parties to do so. When the Court conducts voir dire, the parties may submit written proposed questions to the Court and may request additional questions in light of prospective jurors' responses to the Court's examination.

(b) Juror Questionnaires. Juror questionnaires shall be available for inspection from the Clerk on the Thursday before jury selection is scheduled to commence. The information contained in the questionnaires is to be used for purposes of jury selection only. Only counsel, employees of counsel, and the parties are authorized to view juror information. Absent a Court order, this information shall not be disclosed to others and shall be destroyed after jury selection is complete.

The attorneys and pro se parties are expected to examine the juror questionnaires available in the Jury Section of the Clerk's Office prior to jury selection in order to become familiar with each potential venire person's background, occupation, etc. During the jury selection proceedings, the Court will have each venire member identified by number only, thus enabling the parties to match each potential juror with his/her background information.

(c) Jury Selection Procedure. A venire shall be drawn according to the Court's plan for the qualification and random selection of petit jurors. Once the Judge or a Deputy Clerk, in the presence of all parties and their counsel, has generally qualified the venire, a panel of prospective jurors will be identified for each particular action. After questioning the members of the panel and resolving all strikes for cause, the Court will ask the parties to exercise their peremptory strikes simultaneously and in writing. Beginning with the first qualified juror remaining on the panel, the strike list will contain a sufficient number of prospective jurors necessary to establish a jury of a predetermined size once the parties have had an opportunity to use all authorized peremptory strikes. If all strikes are not used, or if any of the strikes overlap, resulting in more qualified jurors available for service than are needed, the jury will be composed of the previously determined number of jurors beginning with the first juror on the list. The time necessary for the parties to produce their lists of peremptory strikes is ten (10) minutes, unless, for good cause shown, the Court extends that time. Once all strikes have been recorded, the parties shall be afforded an opportunity to review the strikes of any opposing party in order to present any objections or motions related to those strikes. Once any and all objections or motions are resolved, the Deputy Clerk shall be asked to seat the jury. After the Deputy Clerk has identified and seated the jury, the parties shall be prepared to confirm that the jury seated in the jury box is the jury that was selected.

(d) Peremptory Challenges. Each party shall be entitled to the number of peremptory challenges authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 1870 in civil cases and by Fed. R. Crim. P. 24 in criminal cases. Within the discretion of the Judge, additional peremptory challenges may be allowed in any case. In civil cases where there are multiple Plaintiffs or Defendants, requests for additional peremptory challenges shall be filed no later than the final pretrial conference. In criminal cases involving multiple Defendants, the Judge may allow additional challenges and authorize the Defendants to exercise those challenges separately or jointly, so long as they are requested at least seven (7) days in advance of jury selection.

(e) Communications with Jurors. Parties, attorneys, and the agents or employees of parties or attorneys may not approach, interview, or communicate with a venire member or juror before, during, or after trial, except with leave of Court. Such leave may be granted only upon notice to opposing counsel (or pro se opponent) and a showing of good cause. A juror must be advised at the outset of any communication that his or her participation is voluntary. Any juror contact permitted by the Court under this Rule is subject to the Court's control.