Taking the 'Bull' Out of Jury Selection
There is no such thing as the “science” of jury selection. Any who tells you that is full of “Bull.”
February 08, 2019 at 03:40 PM
9 minute read
One of my wife's favorite TV shows is a weekly series on CBS called “Bull.” For the uninitiated, the premise of “Bull” is that Michael Weatherly (formerly a supporting actor on my wife's absolute favorite TV show “NCIS”) is Dr. Jason Bull, who is described in a Google synopsis as a “charming and cocky psychologist” who owns a “trial consulting firm … which employs (besides himself) teams of experts (using) high tech data to understand jurors, lawyers, witnesses and (the litigants)” to construct “effective narratives” to help attorneys who employ his company to win cases.
The show may be entertaining, and even seem realistic, to audience members who never have been exposed to the wonderful world of litigation. However, for those of us attorneys who try cases, especially before juries, what is depicted on “Bull” is entirely disconnected from our reality and—there is no other way to say it—total bull. (Full disclosure: I have never actually watched an entire episode of “Bull.” I either drift off to sleep after watching the opening scene and a couple of minutes of what follows. Or, during the baseball season, I watch a few minutes and then go downstairs and watch my beloved San Francisco Giants on MLB Extra Innings, or some other televised sporting event.)
However, what follows are my own observations on what really matters when engaged in jury selection (consider them suggestions or helpful hints) in contrast to the fantasy world depicted on “Bull.”
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