by Chris Mondics, Staff Writer
When Mark Calzaretta watches a jury hearing evidence in a high-stakes lawsuit, it isn’t necessarily an impartial panel of citizen peers he sees.
Rather, Calzaretta sees 10 human beings with emotional biases that, if studied diligently, can help lawyers predict with startling accuracy the outcome of a case, often before it is tried.
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By Milton J. Valencia GLOBE STAFF JANUARY 16, 2015
A data management consultant, a state energy regulator, a computer technician, and a banker were among the prospective jurors who were called into federal court in Boston Friday to be vetted for jury duty in the trial of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
But as US District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., defense lawyers, and prosecutors conducted the second day of questioning of prospective jurors in perhaps the most anticipated trial in Boston’s history, they continued to encounter a common theme: While some said they could keep an open mind, many said they could not vote in favor of a death sentence, even if a jury finds Tsarnaev guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Read the entire article at Bostonglobe.com
If a case goes to trial, you can rest assured that there’s an arduous process ahead of you. After all, if the case was as “open and shut” as you sometimes hope, there would’ve likely been a plea deal or settlement before it ever got to trial. Once a case ends up in the courtroom, everyone is on an equal playing field. No matter how great an attorney is or how obvious the eventual verdict seems, there are no guarantees. This is why legal professionals around the world now utilize jury consulting services to gain the upper hand.