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“Are You Involving Your Jurors?”
by Elliott Wilcox
It's no secret that jurors' minds can wander. Just poke your head into any courtroom
shortly after lunch and you'll see jurors mentally “checking out” and letting their brains
wander away from the courthouse.
The important question we need to ask is, “How do we keep their minds inside the
courtroom?”
One solution is to get your jurors more involved in the case. When jurors are
actively engaged in your case, it's impossible for their minds to wander away. One of
the best ways you can get them involved is to turn them into demonstrative aids during
trial.
Here are a few examples of different ways to get your jurors more involved during the
direct examination of your witnesses:
Let's say you've got a doctor who is describing a broken bone. You could involve the
jurors by having the doctor show the jurors how to locate the same bone on their own
body: “The bone that was broken in Johnny's forearm was the ulna. If you
hold your left arm out in front of you in the 'thumbs-up' position, when you touch your left
forearm, the bone on the bottom side of your forearm (the pinkie side) is the ulna.”
Maybe you could have them conduct a simple medical test upon themselves:
- “The first thing we do when we find the patient on the ground is check for a pulse to
see if he's alive. We don't check the wrist. Instead, we check the carotid
pulse. It's easy to do. Just take your index and your middle finger and place
them right here, in the hollow between the windpipe and the large muscle in the
neck. That's it. Press lightly until you feel a pulse. When I placed my
fingers against his neck, I couldn't feel anything, so I knew I had to start CPR...”
- If you were examining the treating physician who conducted a knee jerk reflex test on
your client, you could get the doctor to instruct the jurors how their legs should be
positioned, how he conducts the test, how and where he strikes the knee, what the
expected results should be, what your client's results were, etc. Done well, your
jury will feel like they're in the examination room with him when he performs the
evaluation. As he describes the reflex test, some of them will probably even try
tapping their own knees.
Another way you can engage the jurors is to have them envision sizes or distances:
- “How big was the rock that he threw at the car? If you were to make a fist with
your right hand, that's about the same size.”
- “How close was I when he pointed the gun at me? Pretty close, just a few feet
away. The distance between me and the juror in the third seat over there -- that's
about how close we were when I saw the gun.”
- “The child was delivered 16 weeks early, so she was incredibly small.
Cup your hands together to form a bowl -- she could have fit right there in your
hands.”
Or you could help them understand an unknown object by comparing it to something they
already understand:
- “The material was soft and spongy, but it had a dense core underneath. If you
touch your forefinger against the tip of your nose and press until you feel the
cartilage, you'll get an idea what it feels like.”
- “There were two different types of hinges we were talking about. The first one
was like your knee -- it could bend or straighten, but it wasn't designed to rotate. The
other type of hinge was more like your shoulder joint -- it was more flexible and could
rotate around.”
An additional benefit of turning your jurors into visual aids or demonstrative aids is
that your aids will definitely be allowed back into the jury room. Start
thinking of ways that you can actively involve your jurors, and their minds won't wander out
of the courtroom any more.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, WEBSITE, OR
BAR ASSOCIATION PUBLICATION? You can, as long as you include the following blurb
with it: Elliott Wilcox publishes Trial Tips Newsletter, a free weekly e-zine
for trial lawyers that reveals simple, powerful, and proven secrets to help you persuade
jurors and win more trials, guaranteed. Sign up today for your free special
report: “How to Become the Best Trial Lawyer in Your Courthouse – The Top Ten Tips for
Trial Lawyers,” at
www.TrialTheater.com
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Before you jump to the article, let me tell you about the interesting
experience I had last week. Rudy Giuliani was in Orlando, and he stopped by our
courthouse to make a speech. This is a quick snapshot I took of him with Florida's
Attorney General, Bill McCollum. He's only the second presidential candidate I've
ever seen in person (the first was Bill Clinton) and the first one I've been able to
shake hands with. Whatever your politics, I think it's always impressive when you
meet someone running for the highest office in the land.
