Tuesday, April 23, 2024
HOOD COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Ryan Sinclair took the oath of office as Hood County’s district attorney in April 2019. He was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to fill the post at that time after former D.A. Rob Christian went into private law practice. Sinclair, previously first assistant D.A., was elected as D.A. in 2020.
As this summer rolls to a close, I have been enjoying watching our fellow Americans compete in the Tokyo Olympics. I have always liked watching the Olympics. To me, watching our fellow Americans compete on the world stage is a patriotic duty. For the athletes competing, representing our nation to the world must be a high patriotic privilege.
Another patriotic privilege that citizens in our country enjoy is the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury. But this patriotic privilege is accompanied by a patriotic obligation for the rest of us: jury duty.
Jury duty is something most of us will be called upon to perform at some point in our lives. Admittedly, jury duty can be a big inconvenience. Getting that summons in the mail is oftentimes not the most joyous event. It means we must rearrange our work schedules, find babysitters, go to the courthouse, stand in line, sit through jury selection, etc. etc. etc. And unlike watching the Olympics, if you are summoned for jury duty, participation is mandatory.
But trial by jury is a precious right important both to the prosecution and the defense. It is an accused citizen’s peers who will decide whether the law was broken, and in Texas, it is also his peers who will decide what the punishment must be. Understanding exactly how this jury of peers is selected may help illustrate why this trial right is so important.
Jury panels for felony trials are usually composed of 48 to 60 qualified citizens. From this panel of citizens, 12 folks will be selected to sit on the jury and decide the case. Trial is an adversarial process, and each side wants to win the case. To make the playing field as level as possible, both the prosecution and the defense participate in the process of selecting the decision makers for the case.
When citizens first show up for jury duty at the courthouse, they submit to the clerk information cards containing basic demographic information about themselves. The lawyers for the prosecution and defense are provided a few minutes (usually about 10 minutes) to review these cards.
From these cards, each side formulates questions for the panel members. These questions are designed to give the lawyers insight into how a given panel member feels about jury service and the applicable law in the case. The lawyers pay close attention to the panel members’ responses, trying to discern how a given panel member may approach the case should that person be seated on the jury.
Based on the answers given, lawyers decide whether a given panel member is favorable or unfavorable to their position on the case. For example, if a panel member indicates that he is best friends with the defendant, then the State’s attorneys will likely strike that panel member.
Striking a panel member means that person is no longer available to be seated on the jury. In a felony case, both the prosecution and the defense each have 10 strikes they may exercise to remove panel members from the pool of potential jurors. The lawyers for each side can decide to strike a panel member for almost any reason, so long as the strike is not based on the panel member’s race or gender.
Sometimes panel members may be legally disqualified from serving on the jury. For example, if a panel member says that he cannot follow the applicable law in the case, then that panel member is legally disqualified from serving on that jury. The judge will strike panel members who are legally disqualified. These judge-made strikes are known as “for cause” strikes, and all “for cause” strikes do not count against the 10 strikes that the prosecution and defense may exercise.
After the prosecution and defense have exercised all their desired strikes, and after the judge has exercised all necessary “for cause” strikes, then the first 12 remaining panel members are seated on the jury. These 12 citizens are then sworn in as jurors, and the lawyers proceed to present the evidence and argue the case.
Presenting and arguing the case involves another set of rules and procedures, but that is an article for another day.
Until next time, the State rests.
