Rejecting consultant advice on jury selection may cost the outcome.

Evidence

With this information Dimitrius and Vinson each constructed profiles of the ideal defense juror. Their profiles largely coincided: a blue-collar, middle-aged, African-American woman who had some personal or familial experience with law enforcement. Simpson’s attorneys heeded Dimitrius’s advice and sought to select jurors who fit this profile. However, prosecutor Marcia Clark rejected Vinson’s advice, confident that the spousal-abuse issue in the case and her experience in establishing rapport with African-American women jurors would be decisive. The prosecution thus failed to use its full allotment of 20 peremptory challenges, and the jury that finally acquitted Simpson included eight African-American women, one African-American man, two white women, and one Hispanic man. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 837

Categorization

• SEED: The Simpson case is a concrete, vivid illustration of strategic jury selection that could anchor an essay on scientific jury consulting versus attorney intuition.
• XREF: connects to: One side’s refusal to follow jury-selection research can shape a trial’s outcome — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 835; The prosecution’s rejection of jury-consultant advice keyed Simpson’s acquittal — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1354; Jury consultants use polling, focus groups, and mock trials. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 836 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The prosecution’s rejection of jury-consultant advice keyed Simpson’s acquittal #exemplifies (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1354
• One side’s refusal to follow jury-selection research can shape a trial’s outcome #corroborates (0.86) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 835
• Jury consultants use polling, focus groups, and mock trials. #expands (0.78) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 836