[Vision2020] 06-17-04 CNN: Bryant jury may submit questions to witnesses

[I am For This Idea]

Allowing the jury to submit questions to witnesses is not new to Latah County.  
I served on a jury last summer.  After each witness' testimony the jury was 
permitted to submit questions to the judge for his determination whether or not 
the question should be asked of the witness.

This ultimately assists the jury during their deliberations.  It virtually 
eliminates jury concerns about unasked questions.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

> Bryant jury may submit questions to witnesses
> Groundbreaking Colorado law takes effect in July
> Thursday, June 17, 2004 Posted: 9:42 AM EDT (1342 GMT)
> 
> 
> DENVER, Colorado -- When Kobe Bryant goes on trial later this year, jurors 
will
> be allowed to submit questions for witnesses in the sexual assault case under
> what is believed to be the first rule of its kind.
> 
> The possibility of juror questions in criminal cases is both exciting and 
scary
> to judges and attorneys.
> 
> "I'm hopeful this will be beneficial, even though I'm nervous about this. The
> reality is, no one knows how this will work," said Scott Robinson, a Denver
> criminal defense attorney.
> 
> Jurors have been allowed to ask questions in Colorado civil cases for the past
> five years, but attorneys say much more is at stake in criminal cases. The 
rule
> takes effect statewide July 1.
> 
> How jury questioning will pan out in the Bryant case is unknown. State 
District
> Judge Terry Ruckriegle will have wide latitude in deciding what questions are
> relevant from a jury that will be asked to decide if the Los Angeles Lakers 
star
> raped a 19-year-old resort worker last year. (Assessing jury questioning)
> 
> Bryant, 25, has pleaded not guilty to felony sexual assault, saying the two 
had
> consensual sex. If convicted, he faces four years to life in prison, 20 years 
to
> life on probation and a fine up to $750,000.
> 
> State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love-Kourlis, who headed a panel that
> studied the issue, said other states have tried the jury question option in
> various forms but Colorado is the first to make it a rule.
> 
> David Graeven, the president of Trial Behavior Consulting in San Francisco, 
said
> other states are experimenting with ways to involve jurors but agreed Colorado
> has the nation's first rule on jury questions.
> 
> Most attorneys would rather know what jurors are thinking than guess, Graeven
> said Wednesday. Most now have to rely on mock juries or shadow jurors who sit 
in
> on trials and provide attorneys with feedback.
> 
> "I want to know what's going on," Graeven said.
> 
> Colorado judges will be trained in how to handle the new rule and will be able
> to bar questions in cases involving suppressed evidence and other potentially
> thorny legal issues. Most are expected to give jurors a chance to participate.
> 
> "Jurors for the most part have been responsible. They take the process and 
their
> oaths seriously," Love-Kourlis said.
> 
> The rule was adopted after a pilot program ended in 2002 with mixed results.
> 
> Jurors in the study said they felt more involved in the trial and the 
questions
> removed some of the doubt in their verdicts. Attorneys said it gave them more
> insight into the jury, but also opened up the potential for new challenges. 
Some
> jurors acted like junior Perry Masons.
> 


---------------------------------------------
This message was sent by First Step Internet.
           http://www.fsr.net/