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Date:
November 2000 -
(Download PDF Version)
Topic:
Preemptory Challenges
Question: Does your program
allow preemptory challenges?
Responses
from
Coordinators:
Lynnette Beck
Boulder Municipal Court Teen Court
P.O. Box 8015
Boulder, CO 80303-8015
Phone: (303) 441-4904
Fax: (303) 441-4233
BeckL@ci.boulder.co.us
We don't allow peremptory challenges, but we do allow
attorneys to challenge jurors for cause, such as bias.
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Olivia Harrington
Duncanville Teen Court
P.O. Box 380280
Duncanville, TX 75138-0280
Phone: (972) 780-5063
Fax: (972) 780-5077
oharrington@ci.duncanville.tx.us
We do
not have preemptory challenges per say. If the defendant has
objections or jury member knows defendant, or if attorneys
object, then they are replaced.
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Leslie Comeaux
Keller, Halton City, Watauga Teen Court
7101 Whitley Road
Watauga, TX 76148
Phone: (817) 514-5823
Fax: (817) 281-1191
lcomeaux47@hotmail.com
Tracy,
My answer is this. We are dealing with teens... teens are
not adults and there will always be a certain amount of
bias. We do not do the voir dire part of trial. We only make
sure that the teens on jury do not know the defendant they
are judging.
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Jessica Dzikonski
Peer Review Court of Linn County
901 29th Ave SW
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404
Phone: (319) 398-3907
jessica.dzikonski@doc.state.ia.us
As the coordinator, I select
the jurors for each hearing. It is a policy of this program
that a defendant's hearing will not involve jurors,
attorneys, a court attendant, or bailiff from his/her
school. I have taken this measure for several reasons:
- To
reduce potential bias towards or against the defendant
- So
it's easier for volunteers to maintain confidentiality
- To
reduce potential retaliation by a defendant
- To
give volunteers the opportunity to work with youth from
different schools in a non-competitive fashion
In training, we also talk
about what the jurors should take into account when
recommending a sentence:
- case information presented
- defendant's testimony
- defendant's attitude in court - i.e. remorseful for
offense, respectful towards judge, attorneys, and
courthouse in general
I hope
this helps. Since this is a new, relatively small program, I
realize that our selection process may not be feasible for
all programs.
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Charles Snyder
Whatcom County Superior Court
311 Grand Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98226
Phone: (360) 738-2457
Fax: (360) 676-6793
CSnyder@co.whatcom.wa.us
Our
judge always asks the jurors if they are acquainted with the
defendant and vice-versa as the proceeding begins. If they
are, the defendant has the option of excluding them from the
jury, in which case we excuse the juror or exchange for
another juror if one is available. If the defendant says
he/she knows the juror but doesn't wish them excluded, then
they stay.
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Karianne Aaron
J.E.T. Program
P.O. Box 458
Sisters, OR 97759
Phone: (541) 549-2302
Fax: (541) 549-1762
karia@deschutes.org
The
J.E.T. Program (Juvenile Empowerment Team)/Sisters Teen
Court, is small. Sisters, OR is a small community -
"everybody knows everybody." I express to the youth on the
jury, to treat the defendants fairly without bias -- treat
them like you would like to be treated. The defendants end
up doing jury duty, so they know what it means to sentence
according to the circumstances only – not by personal
feelings. The same goes for the volunteers. They are told
during training, to leave out bias or unfair treatment --
whether they are your best friend or not. I encourage youth
to let me know if they don't feel comfortable sentencing a
particular youth. They either sit on a different jury or
they can be bailiff, court presenter, etc. I have no
problems with sentencing outcomes, the youth jury do well
with their decision making. I rarely have to alter any given
requirement.
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Bruce Steinmetz
Bethel Teen Court
City of Eugene
870 Berntzen Road
Eugene, OR 97402
Phone: (541) 682-6376
Fax: (541) 682-8192
Bruce.H.STEINMETZ@ci.eugene.or.us
I think this problem is
going to vary greatly depending on the community. This has
not been a problem in Eugene's (that is, the City of
Eugene's) courts, even though they are community-based and
jury members are often at least acquainted with defendants.
We give defendants the right to have the last word, to
remove anyone from the jury they are not comfortable with. I
emphasize to them at intake that they are not to be shy
about this, that it's not an insult and jurors understand
their right to feel their jury is fair. In court, the judge
will ask defendants if they would like anyone removed "for
any reason." If the answer is negative, the judge will again
ask, "Do you accept this jury?" If yes, court proceeds.
Hardly anyone ever avails
themselves of this right. Jurors usually see potential
conflicts coming and remove themselves at our pre-hearing
sign-in. I don't think I've seen five defendant requests for
removal in our nearly three years of operation. But I seldom
get any complaints later from defendants that their jury had
biased members on it. It is, of course, possible and likely
that jurors who favor the defendant have sat on juries - but
no one is likely to file a complaint about that,
particularly since we don't have an adversarial court.
If we
began to get wholesale requests for removal, or I saw a
pattern based solely on something like race, we would have
to look again at the issue, but we haven't seen the process
abused so far. I understand, though, that this might be a
greater problem in a very small community, or a community
sharply divided along some kind of social lines.
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Debbie Annen
Dimmitt Teen Court
P.O. Box 674
Dimmitt, TX 79027
Phone: (806) 647-4566
Fax: (806) 647-5403
debbieannen@hotmail.com
We are a
small town with a small court. The defendant is allowed to
see who the jurors are and if they feel there is anyone on
the panel that would not treat them fairly that juror is
removed from that case. Before the defendant is sworn in the
judge asks them if they object to anyone on the jury. During
the pre-court interview with the coordinator they are told
about this procedure so they know that they must speak up or
they must accept the people on the jury.
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Kory Norris
Olathe Youth Court
1021 South Pitt
Olathe, KS 66063-2000
Phone: (913) 780-7046
Fax: (913) 780-7045
norrisk.WDSC_PO.WDSC_GWP@mail.olathe.k12.ks.us
We have
student judges ask jurors several Q's, followed up with
juror's ability to be fair. Student-defense attorneys are
permitted one (1) 'strike' of a juror, without cause. We
have a volunteer training jurors, working with them b/4
trials begin. Also, we have an assistant-student-judge sit
in jury deliberation room for observation and reporting. In
other words, if a juror 'misbehaves', or is biased,
inappropriate, or for whatever reason does not uphold
his/her duty as juror, ass't judge handles the issue, with
the ultimate sanction being removal of a juror. If a juror
is removed or reprimanded, we do not allow the jury duty to
count as 'community service' and if juror was required to
serve, s/he will have an additional jury duty service added
to his/her requirements.
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Nathan Miller
Wrigth County Teen Court
10 2nd St, NW Rm 141
Buffalo, MN 55313
Phone: (763) 682-7712
Nathan.Miller@co.wright.mn.us
While
our Teen Court Program is not so strictly based on the
traditional court system, we have built into our opening
protocol an opportunity for the offender to have any juror
removed and replaced without needing to state a reason.
Though we have only done a few sessions, none of the
offenders (yet) have objected to any of the jurors.
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Marlene Todd
Lawrence County Teen Court
P.O. Box 227
Deadwood, SD P.O. Box 227
Phone: (605) 578-2065
Fax: (605) 578-2065
teencrt@mato.com
Before
each hearing our Judge asks the defendant if he/she has any
problem with the jury panel and if so the whole panel is
removed not one single juror. Also, we have an adult jury
monitor in the courtroom and in the jury room that if they
see anyone trying to manipulate the jury, then the
individual is removed from the room. If the individual is a
prior defendant completing their sentence, this action is
grounds for discharge from the program. Their case is
referred back to the States Attorney's office for failure to
comply. It the individual is a volunteer, they get one
warning and if they continue to cause problems the second
time, they are removed from volunteering.
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Deborah Hollifield
Denton County Teen Court
6301 Main Street, Ste. 100
The Colony, TX 75056
Phone: (972) 625-7575
Fax: (972) 625-7578
Deborah.Hollifield@co.denton.tx.us
In our
court the judge does the voir dire of each panel in open
court before each trial (as opposed to all jurors in one big
room). After the initial voir dire by the judge, the
defense and prosecution advocates are given an opportunity
to: 1) further voir dire examination; 2) object to the
presence of someone on the panel, not as a preemptory
challenge, but as a challenge for cause (because they are
friends with the defendant, participated in some peripheral
way in the event, etc.) We merely excuse that juror and
substitute someone from another panel - just a switch. No
one has the right to complain about juror bias just because
they didn't like the outcome of the case, if they didn't
object at the beginning of the case.
On the other hand, if it is reported to me that a juror has
made a comment during deliberations or immediately afterward
that indicated an undisclosed bias, then that would be
grounds for a mistrial and we would do the case over. Since
our jurors are sworn by the judge during voir dire, we would
explain the seriousness of perjury, and the lying juror has
to return with his or her parents for a conference.
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Mikkel Anderson
Teen Court Program
Teen Court Coordinator
2105 Lee Avenue
Bismark, ND 58501
Phone: (701) 258-2240
Fax: (701) 258-2245
teencourt@teencourt.com
In regards to Preemptory
challenges... our Teen Court program hasn't had any specific
requests from defendants that feel they were unfairly
treated directly by a jury member. However, I think the idea
of having the defense attorney ask the defendant if they
would like some one removed from the jury is a good idea.
The Voir Dire part of questioning by the judge at our Teen
Court trials has proven effective to keep the jury unbiased.
(so far)
One may want to remind the
Teen Defendant that they will have to accept the Teen Court
jury's decision if they are okay with the people on the Teen
Court Jury for their trial. That may clear it up with them
before proceedings even get underway.
So in
other words....double your reminders to the defendant that
this jury has been okayed by them (the defendant) to pass
sentence on them.
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Joel Clouser
Justice Court 2/YMCA Teen Court
P.O. Box 428
Missouri City, TX 77459
Phone: (281) 403-8080
Fax: (281) 403-8080
clousjoe@co.fort-bend.tx.us
Our teen judges have the
defendant stand and face the teen jury. Then they ask a
short list of questions before each teen court trial begins.
These questions include:
- Does anyone on the jury go to the same school as the
defendant?
- If
yes, did you witness the incident the defendant is being
tried for today?
- If
they go to the same school, do they know the teacher who
filed the complaint?
- If
they know the teacher who filed the complaint, what is
their opinion of the teacher? Has the teacher ever
written them up or filed a complaint against them? Do
they feel that the teacher is fair?
- Does anyone on the jury know the defendant? If yes, how
do they know the defendant? Are they related? Have they
ever had a conflict with the defendant?
- Does anyone on the jury live in the defendant's
neighborhood? Go to his church? Belong to the same
organizations?
- Does anyone on the jury know, or is related to the
defense attorney(s), or the prosecutor(s)?
If any
of the jurors can answer yes to any of the above questions,
then the defense attorney(s) or the prosecutor(s) are asked
if they wish to strike them? If the defense attorney(s) or
prosecutor(s) wish to strike, then the opposing side may
argue to keep them on the jury. After the judge hears both
sides of the argument, he or she makes the final decision to
strike, or not to strike the juror. No preemptory strikes,
no time... and in some cases, limited potential jurors.
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Michele L. George
Teen Court of Huerfano County
401 Main Street, Suite304
Walsenburg, CO 81089
Phone: (719) 742-0240
Fax: (719) 738-1267
hcteencourt@yahoo.com
What I
find is that the student/attorneys really know who is who
and what classes they are in. But, I live in small district
with only 300 students in the entire high school. For a
large district, I will suggest that the Judge no longer do
an extended version of voir dire and train the attorneys to
do voir dire. I would also recommend that the defense
attorneys discuss their case with the defendant prior to the
hearing and let the defendant know to advise them as soon as
the jury sits of anyone who may be prejudiced. The defendant
can write the names on a sheet of paper and the attorney
should be trained so that the juror does not feel as though
they have been pointed out; i.e., the question should be
asked of several jurors. Your teen attorneys more than
anything, should not be shy.
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Bonnie Schaaf, J.D.
Coordinator
Michigan City Teen Court
803 Franklin Street
Michigan City, IN
Phone: (219) 879-5151
Fax: (219) 879-0043
ysbmc@adsnet.com
Regarding preemptory challenges, in LaPorte and Michigan
City, IN following voir dire, the judge asks each attorney
to accept the jury, and then asks the defendant if they want
any jurors removed for any reason, and they do not have to
state a reason, and if so to inform their defense attorney,
who will then approach the bench and inform the judge what
jurors to remove. After removing the biased jurors, if we
are left with a jury smaller than 6, we go out and find
another volunteer to serve, which the defendant also has the
right to reject. We have only once in 13 years had to cancel
a hearing at this point due to too few unbiased jurors
available. Also, during intake, the Coordinator reads a list
of volunteers, which includes any defendants who may be
serving their jury duty, to the defendant. We ask the
defendant and parents to inform us of any potential jurors
they know, and we do not assign any known jurors to their
case to begin with, which eliminates a lot of removals.
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Russell H. Landry Russ
Landry/S.C.A.L.E.S Project
Leon County Courthouse Rm 203-A
301 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Phone: (850) 488-4265
Fax: (850) 488-4264
www.nettally.com/teencourt
Generally, would only entertain a dismissal with cause. I
voir dire the jury prior to going to the courtroom. Would
declare a mistrial if later discovered that a juror had
previous contact with defendant. Only happened one time.
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Mary S. Beck
TEENCOURT@prodigy.net
A part of our procedure is a
time for the defendant and the attorneys to affirm the jury
is okay as seated, or they may request anyone to be removed
who they believe may not be objective. Jurors may also
excuse themselves if they are friends, siblings of friends,
neighbors, etc., by standing and asking the judge to excuse
them.
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