Jury Selection – Part 1
Selecting a jury in any case is a daunting task, even more so in a criminal case. In selecting the jury for this case, the defense team was faced with one significant problem; few environmental criminal prosecutions have gone to trial, much less to a jury. As a result, there is virtually no guidance on how to pick a jury for an environmental crimes case. Further, this case provided some unique twists not normally found in the run-of-the-mill criminal prosecution. First, there were two corporate entities of foreign parentage: Odfjell Westfal-Larsen (U.S.A.), Inc. (“OWL”) was a wholly-owned subsidiary of a foreign company; Baytank (Houston), Inc. was a wholly-owned subsidiary of OWL. Second, the individual defendants were of varying nationalities, race and backgrounds.
Two of the defendants were United States citizens; one of the defendants was Yugoslavian-born, claiming Argentinian citizenship, holding a Brazilian passport; the remaining sixteen (16) defendants were Norwegian citizens. The national diversity of the defendants obviously complicated the jury selection process. With the large number of foreign-born defendants, the defense team also had to consider whether interpreters would be appropriate and how the use of interpreters might look to the jury. While not insurmountable, the problems required strategic planning and implementation.
After much discussion, the defense team decided on pursuing three tactical courses of action. First, the defense team decided to make an oral motion to waive trial by jury prior to jury selection; second, the defense team decided to request additional time to conduct voir dire; and third, the defense team retained a forensic/clinical psychologist to develop an ideal juror profile, as well as a juror questionnaire to aid in the selection of jurors.
More later.
As always, feel free to call me or e-mail me with any questions at walter.james@jamespllc.com.
WDJiii