Phoenix DUI Cases - Part III - Jury Duty

Phoenix DUI lawyers who practice regularly in Phoenix Municipal Court understand that knowing the system and how the court works goes a long way towards securing drunk driving clients the best possible result. In previous articles, we examined the pretrial procedures for DUI cases in Phoenix. In this article, we discuss the first stage of a trial, jury selection.

In Arizona DUI cases, a defendant has a right to a jury trial. In misdemeanor DUI cases, which are handled in Phoenix Municipal Court, the jury consists of six people. In addition, there is typically an alternate juror in case one of the jurors is excused.

The trial begins with jury selection. Typically, a group of 18 to 24 potential jurors are brought into the courtroom. It is from this pool that the 7 jurors who will hear the case are ultimately chosen. Just before the jurors are brought into court, the attorneys are handed a master list of the jurors, who have each been assigned a number. They are also given a stack of short juror bios, that the jurors filled out the morning the reported for service. The bio sheet tells the attorneys what each juror does for a living, how long they have lived in the area, and some other minor details.

Then the judge comes in and the jury selection process begins. In most courtrooms in Arizona, in misdemeanor DUI cases, the judge typically asks the jurors most of the questions. There is a canned list of DUI related questions. As the judge asks the questions, the attorneys take note of the jurors' responses. At the conclusion of the questions by the judge, the attorneys can then question jurors individually.

If a juror is shown to, for whatever reason, lack an objective mind about the case, then the juror may be excused for cause by the judge. This can be based on a request by either attorney, or by the judges initiative.

Once the jurors have been questioned, the prosecutor, and the DUI defense attorney, each get to exercise their peremptory strikes. In misdemeanor drunk driving cases in Arizona, each lawyer gets two strikes. This means that each attorney can remove an additional two jurors. After that, the first seven jurors who remain are seated to hear the case.

At the end of the the trial, the alternate juror is typically chosen by lot. That juror is then excused but warned not to discuss the case until the bailiff calls to tell the juror that there is a verdict. If one of the six remaining jurors can not finish the case, the alternate may be called back, and deliberations would start from scratch.

Once a verdict is announced, the jury is typically thanked and excused. At that point, the attorneys are free to talk to the jurors.