D.C. Circuit Hears 6th Amendment Challenge to Jury Pools Generated During Pandemic
The National Law Journal reports on oral arguments recently presented to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the case of United States v. Joseph Smith. Mr. Smith’s attorney argued Black people were underrepresented in the jury venire for his October 2021 trial because of "disproportionately low Black response rates to jury summonses driven by the COVID-19." At least one member of the appellate panel pushed back against the defense position by questioning whether there was a systemic cause to the underrepresentation as required by Supreme Court doctrine enunciated in Duren v. Missouri.
In Texas New Policies for Jury Duty Pay, Age Limits, and Summoning Procedures
TV channel KSAT-12 in San Antonio is broadcasting new jury trial rules that took effect this month. Day #1 of jury service will be compensated at $12 (up from $6). Full-day service is now $58/day (up from $40). And jury qualification and summoning is now done by means of a postcard sent by mail with a QR code sending the citizen to a website for completion of the summoning process.
Colorado Jury Selection Reforms Appear Stalled
Colorado Politics reports the Colorado Supreme Court in February held a lengthy public hearing on a proposed rule to adjust the typical procedures to enforce the Batson doctrine. But nearly seven months later, the court has not yet finalized action on the rule that drew praise from defense attorneys and stiff opposition from prosecutors. Authors of the article say many of their news sources are not critical of the court but rather intrigued by the delay in action. The article compares the current hold up to prior actions on rule changes. According to their published chart, in the past five years, the court has never taken this long to adopt a final rule following a public hearing.
Video Games & Courtrooms
Last week the Jur-E Bulletin ran an article about a video games blog publishing a tutorial on the role of juries in criminal cases. We invited readers to share any information about video games that portray courtroom battles. Matt Weatherson, judicial information advisor at the Judicial College of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia), generously answered the call for more game material. He points to the Phoenix Wright series on Ace Attorney. He also notes, “Courtrooms also feature in the Judgment and Lost Judgment video games but given that those games mostly involve an ex-lawyer turned private detective beating up street thugs (along with drone racing, singing, dancing, and a lot of other pastimes), I don’t think they are good examples.” Thank you, Matt.