There are a number of gripes about being a DA in a tiny Alaskan town. One is that picking a jury is very different than in a city. In Valdez, we did not get the list of prospective jurors far in advance of a trial. We frequently did not even know which cases would be going to trial until after the trail setting hearing when the defense would announce their intentions.

You are also picking from a pool of people who know their community, and each other, very well. This also can apply to the hometown defense attorney because he’s represented almost everyone for a divorce, or a small suit, or DUI or something. And sure enough, if the prospective juror loves your defense opponent or defendant, you’re stuck with them. On the other hand, if they hate the defense attorney, or your defendant, they get excused by the Court and the defense doesn’t have to waive a juror preempt on them. No judge wants an appeal where he left someone on a jury after they expressed a biased opinion as to the defense, because an appeal will come.

So, I’d take my prospective jury list over to the police department and let them pass it around. This was often distinctly helpful but could be a frustrating exercise when the officers would make contradicting notes about people.

“He’s a great guy! He helped me out when the kids’ snow machine got stuck!”

Followed by…

“Maybe, but he hates cops! Conk pulled him over, and he cussed him out and we ended up tasing him and charging him with  a disorderly conduct!”

No matter who is on the jury when you come back to the station during your first break, you invariably get – “What?! How could you leave X on the jury? He was on that jury on the guy, you know the sex offender back in 98-99 and they acquitted! He said he’d never vote guilty without a taped confession!”

You then spend the rest of the trial trying to convince yourself that he answered your questions well and this is a different case, and that you’re not wasting your entire herculean effort to convict this guy when you have a defense ringer on the jury.

Sometimes the defense attorneys (IF they’re particularly nasty) will plant these little thoughts in your head – “Boy, I sure was surprised when you left X on the jury! He’s a well-known pastor that doesn’t believe that man can punish but ought to forgive every crime. He’s famous down here for that…you didn’t know?”

The jury selection went perfectly for one gentleman, we’ll call him WW, on trial for driving on a suspended license. An officer saw WW drive a truck and trailer by him and began to follow. The defendant stopped, got out of the driver’s side, and walked into a business. The officer could see WW through the storefront window obviously waiting until the officer left. He even crouched behind the counter inside. Finally, the officer went in and got him. WW stated he hadn’t driven. Wife at trial said that he’d only driven in the parking lot to maneuver the trailer because she couldn’t do it, but that she’d been driving on the roadway.

I took the jury list over to the police department and they made some notes for me. So I was prepared when the defense attorney sauntered over and said, “Boy, I sure was surprised to see you left the defendant’s brother in law on the jury!”

I replied, “Yeah, I wasn’t sure about him until I saw that he’s called in the defendant three times previously for driving on a suspended license. Apparently he thinks his sister could have done better.”

The defense attorney’s response was a quick and descriptive expletive.

The jury convicted in 10 minutes.