This memorandum describes the jury selection procedure that Judge Kennelly has adopted for both civil and criminal cases.
The venire will be summoned from the jury assembly room at approximately 9:15 or 9:30 a.m. The venire will consist of approximately 24 persons in civil cases and approximately 38 persons in single-defendant criminal cases (more if there are multiple defendants). The jurors will first complete a written questionnaire which includes basic background questions as well as questions specific to the case that Judge Kennelly has approved from those submitted by the parties prior to trial. Copies of sample questionnaires accompany this memorandum. After the questionnaires are completed, Judge Kennelly’s staff organizes them in the order in which the jurors will be called, based on the randomly shuffled list provided by the Jury Department. The completed questionnaires are duplicated, and the copies are distributed to counsel. This process tends to take approximately 45 minutes.
Following the prospective jurors’ completion of the questionnaires, Judge Kennelly will give introductory remarks and a brief description of the case. Counsel will be asked to identify the persons sitting at counsel table, and Judge Kennelly will read a list of prospective witnesses and others whose names are likely to come up during the trial. The prospective jurors will be asked whether they know or have had dealings with any of these persons. Judge Kennelly will also ask general questions of the entire venire regarding, among other things, special needs and the jurors’ availability to serve for the duration of the trial.
The prospective jurors are then called one by one in the sequence in which they appear on the randomly shuffled list provided by the Jury Department and are seated in the jury box and spectator bench in numerical order. Judge Kennelly will then question each of the prospective jurors in numerical order regarding any matters noted on the questionnaires that require follow-up, and each juror will be asked if the answers he or she gave on the questionnaire are true and correct. Any question which a juror prefers to answer in private is reserved until all jurors have been question and then will be asked at sidebar with the court reporter and counsel present. Once all of the prospective jurors have been questioned, Judge Kennelly will ask the entire panel additional general questions regarding, for example, the jurors’ willingness to keep an open mind, follow the Court’s instructions on the law, etc.
Following the completion of Judge Kennelly’s questioning of the prospective jurors, Judge Kennelly will ask the parties, typically at side bar, whether they want him to pose additional questions to particular jurors or the panel as a whole. Each party will also be given an opportunity to question the prospective jurors directly, pursuant to a time limitation. Once all jurors have been questioned in open court, follow up questions which particular jurors requested to answer privately, and any other matters that Judge Kennelly believes should be inquired into outside the presence of the entire panel, will be asked at sidebar.
After the completion of questioning, each party will be asked outside the presence of the venire to make any challenges for cause and to state the basis for the challenge. Judge Kennelly will rule on all challenges for cause before peremptory challenges are made. Each party will then be given an opportunity, subject to a time limitation, to determine which jurors they wish to challenge peremptorily. Counsel will then reassemble at sidebar with the court reporter present. Peremptory challenges will be exercised back-and-forth, starting with the plaintiff in a civil case and with the prosecution in a criminal case. The number of peremptory challenges is provided by Rule and/or statute. In criminal cases, peremptory challenges regarding alternate jurors will be exercised separately once the twelve-person jury panel is finalized.
Parties are not required to use peremptory challenges in the order in which the jurors appear on the list from the Jury Department; in other words, a party may, if it wishes, use its first peremptory challenge on juror number 20, its second on juror number one. While at sidebar, each party will be given the opportunity to raise any appropriate issues regarding the opposing party’s exercise of peremptory challenges.
In civil cases, Judge Kennelly typically will impanel twelve jurors. All jurors who are still sitting at the conclusion of a civil trial are “regular” jurors and will deliberate. In criminal cases, Judge Kennelly will impanel twelve regular jurors and one or two alternate jurors (more if the trial is expected to be lengthy). Jurors in both civil and criminal cases will be selected in numerical order based on the order in which they were originally seated. In other words, the first twelve jurors on the randomly shuffled list from the Jury Department who have not been excused will constitute the jury.
Any questions regarding these procedures can be raised at the final pretrial conference.