Jury Trial Tips
What does the term 'sequestered' mean when serving on a jury?
Sequestered jurors are kept together at all times. In other words, they're not free to go to lunch on their own. The bailiff, who we've talked about, the court representative in the courtroom, will take the jurors as a group to a restaurant perhaps and they sit together at lunch. And then they're brought back as a group. When a case is submitted to them the trial is over and then it's time for the jurors to deliberate. Sequestering can include the jurors staying together even in the evening and not going home.
Will I have to be sequestered away from my family during a long trial?
Very few jurors are sequestered during a trial. There is generally no need there to shield them from the outside world simply because they are serving out a jury. It is generally sufficient with a judge instructing the jurors not to discuss the case with any friends or family members but just to wait until the case is over and they have decided it if they want to talk about it with anybody. But very few cases result in jurors being sequestered.
What is my most important job as a juror?
Jurors' most important job in our legal system is to try to be fair and impartial, consider both sides carefully, not make quick judgments based on how a person looks or how they talk, or their lawyers, but really try to give both sides a fair hearing to judge the case they are judging with the same attitude that they'd want somebody judging a case if they were involved in the trial and the other person was a juror. So, kinda being fair, impartial, and open, respectful of other jurors' opinions. That's probably the most important duties of jurors in our trial system.
