Here are five helpful hints your Sugar Land criminal attorney will use that may increase a your chances of a positive outcome: 1. Make A Chart One effective way that Sugar Land criminal attorneys can keep track of what answers and information can be attributed to a particular juror is to create a chart with a box for each seat in the jury box (depending on the jury size, he'll make 12 or 16 boxes). The size of each box should be large enough to fit an adhesive note (like a Post-It). The juror's information and answers can be written on the notes and placed in the box for that juror's seat. The adhesive notes can be easily removed and replaced with a new set of notes in the event a juror is removed. 2. Take A Pass A juror's personal experiences or relationships could create biases that can cause problems. In cases where backstrikes are permitted, a criminal defense attorney should always keep in mind that they can strike a juror later if the prosecuting attorney initially does not. Passing over a juror can save peremptory strikes when it's likely that the prosecutor will strike that juror. The defense should always know how many peremptories they have and when they will likely be exhausted.
3. Know the Local System
Effective Sugar Land criminal attorneys will be familiar with the jury selection process before the day of jury selection. The best way to do this is to attend a jury selection at your judge's courtroom. If you can't do that, then you should at least talk to a local attorney that is familiar with that judge to discuss possible outcomes. Contacting the judge's clerk will be helpful too because they can answer any questions you may have about the process.
4. Request a Different Method of Selection
Arguing that a particular method of selection is in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights will likely not be successful since the trial judge has broad discretion over the selection method. A more successful way of changing the method of selection is to recognize the methods that negatively affect both the defendant and the prosecutor. By doing so, you may get the prosecutor to cooperate in requesting that the judge to switch to a different method. When requesting a change, referencing the methods utilized by a nearby reputable judge will be helpful.
5. Follow-Up
A criminal trial may not start until several weeks after the jury selection process. Jurors can be affected during this period of time: they can be influenced by the opinions of their acquaintances; they might be exposed to biased journalism about the case; or they could be even summoned to serve on a different jury. A successful Sugar Land criminal attorney will have the court follow up with the jurors to determine whether the jurors were affected.