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If a sitting juror, or a prospective juror during voir dire, cannot see or hear something clearly, what is the protocol for the juror to alert the court of this? Say something immediately? Raise your hand or number card? Write a note?

This happened to me during voir dire: While projecting a sequence of photos of ten witnesses, a court employee stood in front of the projector, blocking the view for some of us. At the same time, the judge read the names of the witnesses in a mumbling fashion. Overall, this made it difficult to know who the witnesses were. Then the judge asked if any prospective juror had various relationships (family, work, social, etc) with any of the witnesses. Some names were repeated more clearly, but we never saw the photos again.

FlanMan
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1 Answers1

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If a sitting juror, or a prospective juror during voir dire, cannot see or hear something clearly, what is the protocol for the juror to alert the court of this? Say something immediately? Raise your hand or number card? Write a note?

Saying something immediately or raising your hand or number card are appropriate. Ideally, you get the attention of the bailiff whose job it is to supervise the jury (often also the judge's clerk of court), but if you get the attention of the judge, a lawyer, or the court clerk, they will normally interrupt to fix things as well.

ohwilleke
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