Most trial judges do not preside at a jury trial on a typical day
Evidence
The survey reveals that jury trials are the most time-consuming of judicial activities. Those judges who reported conducting jury trials on their most common workday indicated that they spent almost five hours a day on them. However, less than half of the judges reported presiding at a jury trial on their most common workday. Likewise, less than half reported presiding over nonjury trials. But on a typical day, more than half reported being involved in nontrial courtroom work. This work may involve ruling on pretrial motions, such as whether evidence was illegally seized and should be excluded from trial. Judges may also preside over the resolution of cases without trial, through guilty pleas in criminal cases or default judgments in civil cases. Finally, judges may sentence defendants convicted in criminal cases. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 561
Categorization
- XREF: Contradicts the common image of judges as primarily jury-trial presiders, feeding the chapter’s theme that judging diverges from popular expectation. — connects to: Most civil cases are decided during the pretrial phase, not at trial