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Sunday, April 23, 2006

Courts - Kentucky courts wrestle with jury questions

"Courts wrestle with jury questions: Some say they bog down, disrupt process in Kentucky" is the headline to a comprehensive story by Jason Riley in today's Louisville Courier Journal. Here is a snippet:

Jurors asked 69 questions during the [accused serial rapist Bryce Bonner] trial before convicting him of raping and kidnapping two women and unlawfully imprisoning a third woman and her child. They recommended a sentence of 122 years in prison.

Foreman Penny Thielmeier said the questions helped jurors feel more comfortable about deciding Bonner's fate.

"Not being able to ask those questions would have left a lot of stones unturned," she said.

The questions "helped us prove it beyond a reasonable doubt."

But critics, including some judges, say a slew of questions from the jury can cause difficulties.

"Everybody becomes Perry Mason, and that becomes a problem because all you are doing is answering questions," most of them irrelevant, said Circuit Judge Geoffrey Morris, who doesn't tell jurors they are allowed to ask questions, but doesn't forbid them, either.

Unlike some states, Kentucky allows jurors to take notes and question witnesses in both civil and criminal proceedings, provided they submit the questions in writing to the judge after the prosecution and defense have finished with their questioning.

The judge then decides, with advice from attorneys, whether to allow them.

While five states ban jury questions in criminal trials, the rest leave the decision up to judges.

But most judges choose not to allow them, according to an ongoing study by the National Center for State Courts.

Only 15 percent of judges permitted jurors to write questions for witnesses in criminal trials, based on 8,200 returned questionnaires.

All 13 of Jefferson County's circuit judges say they permit written questions -- but to differing degrees. Some, like Morris and Lisabeth Hughes Abramson, don't encourage it.

Abramson said she once had a trial where one juror asked 40 to 50 questions.

"It slowed (the trial) down tremendously," she said. "And half of the questions were totally irrelevant."

Others, like Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman, who presided over the Bonner trial, tell jurors from the outset that they may question witnesses.

"It's better for a jury to have more information than not," McDonald-Burkman reasoned.

What about Indiana? See this Nov. 28, 2004 ILB entry, including this quote from an AP story of that date:
A new rule that takes effect in January could alter the dynamics of jury trials in Indiana by permitting jurors to freely discuss elements of a case before they begin deliberating.

Combined with another recent change that allows jurors to ask questions of witnesses, the new rule could lead to shorter deliberation times for Hoosier juries.

At a minimum, jurors might ask witnesses even more questions. And, having sorted out some of the trial's issues before final arguments, they might spend less time deliberating verdicts, judges predict.

The change applies both to criminal and civil cases and is mandated by a new jury rule adopted by the Indiana Supreme Court on Sept. 30 that takes effect Jan. 1. Under the old rule, jurors are ordered not to discuss the case until they start deliberating.

But trials can last days or weeks, and evidence may include technical testimony from expert witnesses. Throughout that time, jurors must keep silent about the case, both inside and outside court.

The change will mean jurors can talk about evidence among themselves in the jury room, as long as they reach no conclusion about a verdict. * * *

The new rule comes on the heels of another rule change two years ago that spelled out jurors' right to ask witnesses questions. Since then, most trial juries pose at least a handful of questions, sometimes more, judges say.

In the current format, a juror individually thinks of a question, jots it down on note paper and passes it to the judge. Starting Jan. 1, jurors might draft questions as a group in the jury room, depending on when trial recesses are taken.

Here are the Indiana Jury Rules.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 23, 2006 03:35 PM
Posted to Courts in general | Indiana Courts