Episode 20 of Jersey Justice™ Podcast: From Gavel to Verdict: The Role of a Jury in a New Jersey Trial and the Trial Process

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Welcome to Jersey Justice, a

civil law podcast that shares

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practical tips and stories about

personal and workplace injuries.

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Join two of the brightest New Jersey

injury attorneys, Gerald Clark and Mark

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Morris of Clark Law Firm, as they take

you behind the scenes of justice and civil

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law, but first, a quick disclaimer, the

information shared on this podcast is

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for general information purposes only.

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Nothing on this site should be

taken as legal advice for any

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individual case or situation.

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This information is not intended

to create and does not constitute

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an attorney client relationship.

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everyone.

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Welcome back to Jersey Justice.

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Today, we're going to be talking about

the trial process and the role that a

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jury plays in a trial in New Jersey.

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And I'm here with Mark and Jerry, and

we're going to be talking about what

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the role is of the jury, how the lawyers

actually go explaining their point of

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view with evidence in the courtroom.

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So let's see, I'm going to let you

guys pick who wants to get started

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first and chime in on this one.

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I'm happy to go.

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I'll just do a little.

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Little background on that.

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So the question is, what is the role

of the jury in a trial in New Jersey?

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It's kind of everything.

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There's different times throughout

the trial where sometimes the idea

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is like, who's, who's the focus on?

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Sometimes the focus is on

the person who's testifying.

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Sometimes the focus is on the

attorney giving the opening

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statement or the closing.

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But the whole idea of the focus that

we're talking about is the jury.

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Because without the jury,

there's there's no case.

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I think we've talked about

before our clients aren't

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going to have their case heard.

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We're not going to get to call ourselves

trial attorneys and go to trial if

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people aren't showing up for jury duty

and then and then doing their job.

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Occasionally, there's bench trials

in New Jersey where a judge will

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decide the case, but it's pretty rare.

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Typically, it's a jury panel

that's going to decide the case.

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And I think what might be helpful

is just to have like an idea of what

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the day to day would look like if you

get picked as a jury or as a juror.

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A lot of times the judge will say

they want the jurors there at 8, 845.

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Each day there's going to be

different things that happen.

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Like a lot of times once you pick

the jury, say you pick a jury

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in the morning, you probably do

opening statements in the afternoon.

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Sometimes a judge might send

everyone home and then the next

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day that the case will get going.

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But the kind of schedule

for a juror is like 8 38 45.

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You're at the courthouse and the

judge will tell you each day.

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Everything's everything's different.

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There's a mid morning break.

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Usually that's 15, 20 minute break.

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And then you break for lunch.

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That's an hour.

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It's 1230 to one.

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It's another break in the afternoon.

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Then whenever everything's

done, that's a, that's it.

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That's kind of the day.

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And then you come back

and you do it again.

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A lot of cases, if it's like a

standard auto, that it's probably

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a three, maybe a four day trial,

anywhere from two to four days.

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Bigger cases like construction

cases, things like that.

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Jerry just finished one up that I

think was probably four plus weeks.

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Jerry and I have done a construction

case that was almost, yeah,

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that was almost two months.

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It all depends on the nature of the case.

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But that's just kind of because we talk

about how important jurors, juries are and

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how the jury system works and how we pick

a panel, but just like the day to day.

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So I guess people know

what they're getting into.

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It's it's not a horrible day.

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It's 8 30 to 4 30.

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Sometimes it's ending early.

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But like I was saying before, what we

see is the jurors are tuned in like

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they're following what's happening.

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They're paying attention

to what's happening.

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So getting those breaks to kind

of recharge and then come back.

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It's great because the juries can't talk

about the case while it's happening.

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They do kind of get the time to

refresh like behind the scenes, at

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least the way that we try cases, like

every little 15 minute break we get.

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It's rare.

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It's almost, it's almost twisted to call

it like a break because all that is,

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it's just time window you have to prep

for whatever is going to happen next.

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So, like, I'll bring a peanut butter and

jelly sandwich and have 3 bites of it.

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Over the hour break, we have because

you're prepping what's going to come next.

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So that's just kind of a day to day.

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I'm not sure if that's what

you're asking, but that's just

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kind of what I wanted to convey.

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Like, what, what a trial

actually, from a practical

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standpoint looks like for a jury.

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Yeah, thanks.

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That's that's exactly what I was asking.

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And I'm going to ask Jerry now, how

is evidence presented to the jury?

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And trial.

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So once the jury's sworn in, it all

depends on the, on the court schedule.

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But once they swear in the jury, the

jury, they're now the official jurors.

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And generally the, the court will

be like from 9:00 AM till about

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four or nine to four 30, something

like that, sometimes nine to five.

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And then I think.

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There's between the start and lunch,

there's like a 15 minute break and

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then there's an hour lunch and then

after lunch until the end of the

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day, there's a I think it's another

15 minute break in the afternoon.

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And during that time,

it's just packed with.

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Information and legal stuff going

on and the biggest thing with

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juries, the jury experience a lot

of times can be like the objections.

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So the attorneys object and then they

run off to the judge to what's called the

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sidebar, which is like the side of the.

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Judge's bench and then they're whispering

over there about how to deal with an

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objection so that the jury doesn't

hear the lawyers arguing Sometimes

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those objections can go longer and

then then the judge will send the jury

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into the jury room Okay, go back in

the jury room and then they argue out

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in the opening court without the jury

there So that can be a big part of it.

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But once the jury sworn You know,

it depends on the judge's schedule,

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but then the judge may send the

jury home, come back the next day.

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But sometime after the jury's sworn,

there'll be opening statements.

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So in a civil case, the plaintiff

will talk to the jury first and

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give their opening statement.

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And that's like an overview of the

case and what the lawyer expects to

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prove and what the defendant did wrong

and what you're asking the jury for

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so they know what the case is about.

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And then the defendant will

do an opening statement.

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Um, kind of the same idea and then

after those opening statements, then the

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evidence phase of the trial will start.

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So the opening statements to the

juror is not considered evidence.

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That's just argument.

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And then you present the

evidence throughout the case.

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You do it.

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primarily through witnesses.

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So witnesses will testify, and

then as witnesses testify, their

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testimony is evidence, and then as

the witnesses testify, you'll offer

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documents, videos, pictures, things

like that into evidence as well.

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And when it's in evidence, basically what

that means is the jury can consider it.

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So then at trials, so then you

go through and the plaintiff

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will present their case first.

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And then when the plaintiff

has done their case, then the

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defendant will present their case.

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While the plaintiff's presenting the

case, the defendant will be trying

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to cut down the plaintiff's case to

cause confusion, to make arguments,

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to make it complex, to make the

plaintiff's lawyer mess up and stumble.

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That's all the different

things they'll be doing.

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Not to necessarily have the truth come

out in front of the jury, but More often

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in our experience to hide the truth from

the jury, because if the jury were to

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hear the truth over these objections,

and then they would likely rule for the

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plaintiff in our experience, which is why

the defense is always trying to cut us

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down, cut the case down, make it complex,

confuse the jury, because confused

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juries are less likely to find the truth.

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For the plaintiff make it hard

for the plaintiff's attorney.

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If there's a new attorney, they'll

throw out objections just to try to

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throw them off again, not to necessarily

find the truth, but to hide the truth.

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So then after the plaintiff's case

goes, then the defendants will go

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and they'll present their case.

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And then at the end of that, there'll

be closing arguments, which is similar

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to openings, but then the lawyers will

kind of argue about what the evidence

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they think has shown and ask the

jury to rule in their favor and why.

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And then after that evidence is

presented, then the jury goes into

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a jury room and decides the case.

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Um, but before they do that, the judge

will give them a long instruction.

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Sometimes it takes about 20 minutes,

sometimes 45 minutes, sometimes an hour to

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tell the jury what the instructions are.

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And, and so that's it, and then the

jury goes in and decides the case, and

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there's written questions they have to

answer, usually anywhere from four to ten

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questions or so that have to be answered.

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And depending on how they answer

those questions, it, it is then

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determined who won the trial.

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So that's how it, that's how it goes.

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It can be a long process, it could

be as short as a couple days or

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as long as a couple months or

longer, depending on the case.

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Yeah, thanks for sharing that I'm gonna

dive a little bit deeper into that because

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you said a lot of interesting things

that caught My eye one is about the

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part of how let's say maybe the defense

will try to confuse Right the jury and

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they'll try to put doubt in people's

mind and the confusion and to me That

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makes me think of the word gaslighting

I feel like gaslighting is what they're

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doing sometimes and if they're doing that

though Like, I'm gonna ask you guys a hard

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question to think of an actual example.

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Because let's say the defense is

gaslighting and they're putting doubt.

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They're doing these psychological games

that they have to do in the courtroom.

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How is it that when you identify

that, right, how are you going to

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counteract with that to get the

jury back on track to make them

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realize, hey, this is not reality.

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This is only a perception.

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This is a picture that's being painted.

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Well, what we do is that's funny.

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I'm relatively young.

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I'm in like my mid thirties and I hear

gaslighting and I still don't know a

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hundred, a hundred percent know what

it means, but I think I have a decent

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idea based on how you explained it.

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So you're saying when the defense is

trying to poke holes in our case and throw

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this stuff out to confuse the jury and

all that, put it out, like into the ether.

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At least I think Jerry probably

would have a similar response.

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That's why I don't mind jumping

in is we would address it head on.

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If they're trying to say, Oh, maybe this

person had something before, and they're,

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they're acting like it's from this crash,

and maybe they're just trying to defraud

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the system, and they're, or they're,

they're not hurt that bad, and they're,

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they're malingering just to try and get

more money, we would address that head

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on, because we don't take cases where

people are fakers, liars, cheats, fraud,

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like we don't, and we sure as heck don't

take them to trial and get up in front

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of a jury and talk about people who are

really hurt and deserve to get a lot

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of compensation for what's happened to

them if we don't believe in their cases.

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Yes.

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So we would address that head on and tell

the jury straight up either in probably

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in closing or what, but like if our

client, if our client's a liar, a cheat,

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a fraud, we would be the first people

to tell them to give them zero dollars.

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Like to send them out of the courtroom

with 0 because a lot of times what the

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defense does is they don't want to be,

they want to hide in the darkness and not

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make it clear that they're trying to, I

guess, gaslight or say that our clients

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may be a liar, a fake, a cheater or fraud.

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So a lot of times they'll

use their experts.

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Their expert will say things

like symptom magnification or the

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objective findings don't comport

with the subjective complaints.

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Things like that.

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So if we're getting that, because

that that's the whole defense,

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like a lot of the times it's

just to sit back and poke holes.

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So something I was going to say while

Jerry was talking is a lot of times

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the plaintiff's case will take, say,

75 to 80 percent of the trial, and then

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20 percent of it will be the defense.

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Just because it's our burden of proof, we

have to prove each element of our case.

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So the defense will just sit back

and try and poke these holes and

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the gaslight and do all that.

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But I think the worst thing you can do

is just try and run and hide from it.

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Like you have to just attack it head

on and a lot of time to if we know

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there's potentially going to be either

an issue with the case, we just like

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to put it out in the open early on.

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We wouldn't want for the first time

the jury to hear about a potential

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weakness in our case from the defense.

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It's just so much of it is

credibility, both with the attorneys

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and the clients and and all that.

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And I think that's where the

evidence comes into play, right?

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When there's evidence, you

can't argue with the evidence.

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They can try to downplay it, but when

you're going to prepare for trial,

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maybe, last question, what's some of

the most important things or one of the

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most important things you do when you

walk into that prior to walking into

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the courtroom to know that we are as

prepared as we can be for this trial?

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Jerry?

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Yeah, well, probably the most

important thing you can do.

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When you go into a trial is to like you

indicated to be prepared to know the

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file well to know the facts and it's

it's an unbelievable amount of work.

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These cases to know that the facts and to

know the file, but equally important is to

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just be truthful and genuine to the jury.

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But you have to be, you have to be

considered as a reliable source of

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information to the jury, not a gaslighter

and Over the course of a trial, a

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lot of it depends on the judge too.

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If you have eight jurors in the

box, you have a ninth juror, and

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the ninth juror is the judge.

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And you gotta convince the

judge too of your case as well.

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Because if the judge doesn't believe in

your case, the judge is less likely to

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rule in your favor on the things that the

judge has to rule on, those legal issues.

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And the judge decides what evidence the

jury's allowed to hear, which is huge.

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You could have a great piece of evidence.

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If the judge doesn't allow it

in, it doesn't do you any good.

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So you got to convince the

judge about your case too.

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And you have to be, like I said, you have

to be a truthful, a reliable source of

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information for the jury and the defense

is always going to try to cut you down.

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The defense is going to try

to paint the lawyer out as.

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Misrepresenting facts or lying or

a plaintiff's lawyer being like

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a money hungry lawyer that's just

given a bunch of BS just to get money

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as opposed to standing up for the

rights of someone that's been harmed,

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usually by a company or corporation.

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And always we're fighting

at trial, almost always.

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Almost all the time, it's

always for fighting an insurance

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company behind the scenes.

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The insurance company's hiring the

lawyers, the insurance company's the one

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that has to pay any verdict or settlement,

and the insurance company's the one

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that's doing all this gaslighting stuff.

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Even though the jury will never hear the

word insurance at trial, it's all about

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insurance, and it's all about an insurance

company trying to protect its money.

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Can, if I could just piggyback off that?

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Because I'm shocked, like whenever

I talk to friends about cases, like

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intelligent people that Do work not that

different from what I do and I'll be

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explaining a case to him and they go.

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So who who pays that?

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Like where's where's the money

come from or who's responsible?

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It's almost always insurance There's

insurance companies and that is like one

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of the biggest kind of not Handicaps,

not the words, but we're hamstrung

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because we can't tell the jury.

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Hey, we're not suing this guy who was

driving that car We're suing his insurance

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company We're not suing like this mom

and pop construction company or whatever.

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They've got insurance.

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They've got multimillion dollar

policies or huge insurance policies.

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We can't talk about insurance to the

jury, but for people listening, whoever

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at that, it's almost always insurance

money that we're going after just because

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there's, I don't know, that's just how it

works out almost 9 percent of the time.

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If not higher, it's insurance.

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Yeah.

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Thanks.

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All right, you guys, this one's a wrap.

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If you guys have questions in the

audience, you can send them to

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questions at jerseyjusticepodcast.

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com and we're happy to actually

answer them on the show.

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We'll see you guys next time.

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