He's saying not to just rely on demographics.
I don't think that's necessarily PC.
<edit>
I was picking a jury in a pretty conservative venue under what they call the 6 pack system. There were 2 sides to the plaintiffs' case and about 4 parties on the defense side, so there were lots of lawyers and a limited number of challenges (the challenges go to the side, so the plaintifs and defense counsel had to work with their colleagues to exercise them.)
I was the only woman.
I'm waiting my turn at the panel when Juror # 18, an old curmudgeon if I ever saw one, says "lawyers are terrible and women lawyers are the worst..." Well, this caused me to look up from my notes. I made eye contact with a few members of the prospective panel and gave kind of a bemused smile.
When it was my turn, I began with the curmudgeon. It soon became clear that his opinion was based on a bad personal experience. After some probing and working with him, it became clear that he was a perfect defense juror. No way would he allow any lawyer, male or female, to put one over on him.
Since I had the better experts and less of a smoke and mirrors case, I loved the guy. I finally point blank asked him:
"You promise to listen to the evidence and the judge's eventual instruction and follow the law, won't you? You'll be fair to everyone and not pre-judge the case? And, you won't hold it against my clients that they hired a woman to defend them, right?"
He committed right down the line.
Unfortunately, 2 of my colleagues outvoted me and insisted on dinging the guy. Couldn't talk 'em out of it.
That case settled before the trial went much further, but I ended up trying my cross-complaint against my two colleagues who were then adversaries. We picked a new jury for that case. We won, btw.:-) |
