The Importance of Jury Selection

In order to understand how important jury selection is, one must first understand the process of the selection.
On the day of the trial, there may be as many as one hundred and fifty jurors called for examination and selection. Out of that one hundred and fifty, twelve will be selected as the jurors to try the case, with two alternates. The hundred and fifty called, however, represent only a small percentage of the number of persons eligible for jury service. The one hundred and fifty, or smaller or greater number called for a particular case are referred to as the “panel”, and are selected from the jury lists of the County or Federal district in which the Court is located. Local laws, rules or regulations usually determine the number of jurors whose names are to be maintained on the jury list. The names on the jury list are usually selected from the registered and qualified voters, and the list checked at regular intervals to replace those who have died, moved away, or for some...