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fandomhigh2010-05-13 04:31 am
glasses-justice.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2010-05-13 04:31 am
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Anatomy of a Trial [Period 4, Class #1, 5-13]
Class today was meeting in the Danger Room, which they might realize looked very much like a courtroom. Their professor entered with a cup of tea in one hand and a briefcase in the other.
Alex had decided the best way to teach this class -- at least this first week -- was to dive in and pretend it was a courtroom scenario, at least at the outset. They were teenagers, most of them; they should catch on rather quickly.
"Thank you for being here," Alex said, setting her briefcase down on the long table in front of her. "I know jury duty is generally seen as a thankless nuisance, but the court appreciates your civic duty. We're going to start with a voir dire session as we empanel a jury. Those of you who are selected will be seated to hear a case; those of you who are excused may go home, with our thanks."
"Voir dire means that we ask you to speak the truth. Both the defense attorney and I will be asking a number of questions so that we can be sure to seat an impartial jury, one that has no preconceptions or prejudices on the issues we're going to be facing in court. Therefore, we'll be asking a number of questions both related to the accused -- William T. Thornsmith -- and his alleged victim, as well as more general concerns.
"Once we've asked our questions, certain participants may be stricken for cause -- if either side can make a compelling argument that the potential juror is too biased to follow the rule of law -- or dismissed summarily by either side via 'peremptory challenge,' which simply means that one of us feels we'd rather that juror not serve. We only have ten each, and if either of us are caught using them discriminatorily -- that is, to eliminate members of a specific gender, ethnic group, or sexuality -- our challenges may be overturned.
"All you need to concern yourself with is answering questions as honestly as you can. The rest, you can leave to the lawyers; that's why we're so overpaid." She smiled at her students. "Shall we?"
(wait for the OCD! OCD of wtf-was-I-thinking-DOOM is up!)
Alex had decided the best way to teach this class -- at least this first week -- was to dive in and pretend it was a courtroom scenario, at least at the outset. They were teenagers, most of them; they should catch on rather quickly.
"Thank you for being here," Alex said, setting her briefcase down on the long table in front of her. "I know jury duty is generally seen as a thankless nuisance, but the court appreciates your civic duty. We're going to start with a voir dire session as we empanel a jury. Those of you who are selected will be seated to hear a case; those of you who are excused may go home, with our thanks."
"Voir dire means that we ask you to speak the truth. Both the defense attorney and I will be asking a number of questions so that we can be sure to seat an impartial jury, one that has no preconceptions or prejudices on the issues we're going to be facing in court. Therefore, we'll be asking a number of questions both related to the accused -- William T. Thornsmith -- and his alleged victim, as well as more general concerns.
"Once we've asked our questions, certain participants may be stricken for cause -- if either side can make a compelling argument that the potential juror is too biased to follow the rule of law -- or dismissed summarily by either side via 'peremptory challenge,' which simply means that one of us feels we'd rather that juror not serve. We only have ten each, and if either of us are caught using them discriminatorily -- that is, to eliminate members of a specific gender, ethnic group, or sexuality -- our challenges may be overturned.
"All you need to concern yourself with is answering questions as honestly as you can. The rest, you can leave to the lawyers; that's why we're so overpaid." She smiled at her students. "Shall we?"
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