{"id":1709,"date":"2018-09-10T19:03:16","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T23:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/?p=1709"},"modified":"2018-09-10T19:03:16","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T23:03:16","slug":"massachusetts-jury-selection-and-challenges-for-cause-in-the-case-of-commonwealth-v-chambers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-jury-selection-and-challenges-for-cause-in-the-case-of-commonwealth-v-chambers\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Jury Selection and challenges for cause in the case of Commonwealth v. Chambers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Jury selection is a critical part of any criminal trial in Massachusetts.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In Massachusetts, the rules have changed allowing greater attorney participation in jury selection.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The new rules permit Attorney conducted voir dire.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>However, the judge still determines whether an individual shall be excluded for cause from a jury.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>There are two ways to exclude a potential juror from sitting on a jury.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The first is through a challenge for cause.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is a request by one of the attorney to exclude a juror based on the fact that the lawyer believes that the juror cannot be fair and impartial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For example, in an OUI trial, a judge may exclude a juror for cause that has been in an accident with someone thought to be under the influence of alcohol.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This would be based on the fact that the juror\u2019s experience may bias the juror against the defense.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Some judges may try to rehabilitate the juror to keep the juror on the panel by asking if the juror can set aside that experience and still be fair and impartial.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>A judge should allow a defense lawyer to ask follow up questions to determine if the experience is so ingrained that it would start the defendant off at a disadvantage with respect to this juror.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A recent case decided by the Massachusetts Appeals Court addressed the issue of when a judge abuses his discretion for not excluding a juror for cause.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The case was <em>Commonwealth v. Chambers<\/em>, decided on August 29,2018. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-jury-selection-and-challenges-for-cause-in-the-case-of-commonwealth-v-chambers\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Massachusetts Jury Selection and challenges for cause in the case of Commonwealth v. Chambers\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jury selection is a critical part of any criminal trial in Massachusetts.\u00a0 In Massachusetts, the rules have changed allowing greater attorney participation in jury selection.\u00a0 The new rules permit Attorney conducted voir dire.\u00a0 However, the judge still determines whether an individual shall be excluded for cause from a jury.\u00a0 There are two ways to exclude [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-trials"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Massachusetts Jury Selection and challenges for cause in the case of Commonwealth v. Chambers &#8212; Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 10, 2018<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jury selection is a critical part of any criminal trial in Massachusetts.\u00a0 In Massachusetts, the rules have changed allowing greater attorney &#8212; September 10, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-jury-selection-and-challenges-for-cause-in-the-case-of-commonwealth-v-chambers\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Massachusetts Jury Selection and challenges for cause in the case of Commonwealth v. Chambers &#8212; Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 10, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Jury selection is a critical part of any criminal trial in Massachusetts.\u00a0 In Massachusetts, the rules have changed allowing greater attorney &#8212; September 10, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael DelSignore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Massachusetts Jury Selection and challenges for cause in the case of Commonwealth v. 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