In The News: In Juries, Lawyers Now Favor the Uninformed

Decisionquest’s Dr. Leslie Ellis comments in the New York Times on the growing trend of avoiding jurors who know nothing about the case.

“The problem is, anybody who knows enough about the case runs the risk of being dangerous for one or both sides,” said Leslie Ellis, a director at the trial consulting firm DecisionQuest. “You usually cannot ask them questions to get at how deep their knowledge on this runs, or will they get everything right when they’re in deliberations.

“One side or the other will strike them because they don’t want anybody in the jury room who can override their witnesses, and become a bigger influence than the witnesses.”

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