The Trial: A "Good Juror"
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What is the main topic of this episode?
This week, jury selection kicked off in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs.
How does jury selection work in high-profile cases?
The Sean Combs sex trafficking and racketeering trial in New York is expected to have a jury seated by Friday. The judge currently has 45 prospective jurors in place. Both the prosecution and defense anticipate the jury will be finalized by the weekend.
We're never really sure how long this jury selection process could take, but the judge has been running a very tight ship, and so we seem to be on track for the trial to start next week. We could hear opening statements as early as Monday, May 12th. This week, we saw dozens of prospective jurors cycle in and out of the courtroom. They included a massage therapist, a freelance writer, an investment analyst, and a high school wrestling coach, a real cross-section of New Yorkers. One by one, they answered questions from the judge. Questions like, have you listened to podcasts about this case? What social media do you use?
What types of questions are prospective jurors asked?
Also, questions about whether they think they'll be able to listen to testimony that's sexual in nature, about things the government says are a crime. What's the purpose of these questions? It's to figure out whether the juror can give Sean Combs a fair and impartial trial. Legal minds like me refer to this whole jury selection process as voir dire. It means to speak the truth. While the courtroom theater has already begun, the government and the defense have been preparing behind the scenes for months. And gaming out jury selection is a crucial step in that preparation. Think about it. The 12 jurors and six alternates who will be seated for this trial are going to hear all of the arguments, listen to all of the witnesses, and see all of the evidence.
This assortment of people will ultimately decide whether Sean Combs is guilty or not. He continues to deny all of the charges against him. So in this episode, we're going to hear from someone who knows a lot about the strategizing that goes into jury selection and how that could play into this case.
I think if you're the defense, you certainly want an individual who has kind of a untraditional sexual lifestyle, for example. Probably someone who hasn't followed the case very closely because I think a lot of the media attention has not been very positive to Sean Combs. For the prosecution, you would want probably the reverse.
Who is Eric Rudich and what is his role in jury consulting?
This is Bad Rap, the case against Diddy. I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an ABC News legal contributor and practicing attorney. This episode, a good juror. My guest today is Eric Rudich. He's a senior litigation consultant with Blueprint Trial Consulting. His job is to help legal teams prepare for trial, including jury selection. And to be clear, he is not working on Diddy's case. Now, before we hear my conversation with Eric, I just want to mention that as a former public defender, I've never worked with a jury consultant. This process we're going to describe, it doesn't happen on every case. Actually, far from it. That's because jury consultants are expensive. They typically work on really big cases with really deep pocketed clients.
We know from court records that Combs's lawyers are using a jury consultant and even more rare. So is the prosecution. So I started off by asking Eric about what his job entails. I think a lot of people haven't heard of a jury consultant or at most, maybe they've seen a fictionalized version on TV.
Absolutely. So the show Bull is about a jury consultant, and it certainly is a glamorized view of jury consulting with a lot of technology that you wouldn't be allowed to have in the courtroom. Jury consultants, the work that they do is a lot different than what's portrayed in the media. A lot of what we do is behind the scenes to assist attorneys with
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic of this episode?
0:29–0:33
2
How does jury selection work in high-profile cases?
0:33–1:25
3
What types of questions are prospective jurors asked?
1:25–3:00
4
Who is Eric Rudich and what is his role in jury consulting?
3:00–4:37
5
What factors influence jury consultants when selecting jurors?
4:37–7:16
6
How are mock trials used in jury consulting?
7:16–9:16
7
What traits do attorneys look for in a juror?
9:16–24:53