Jury selection is an intricate process, and can make or break a trial. Social media gives lawyers an edge in preparing for jury selection, and make the voir dire process a bit easier.
Using social media monitoring tools, we can uncover a myriad of information that traditional searches cannot yield. In the past, manual methods were used to try to glean information, and more recently, internet searches could yield limited results.
When given information on a potential jury pool, Ann Michaels & Associates can help you learn more about potential jurors, including:
1. Potential jurors' background, biases, and opinions on certain topics prior to voir dire
2. Personal details that could determine which side a juror might sympathize with during a trial. Learning about a potential juror's TV viewing habits and what interests and hobbies they have based on what sites they participate in actively will give you insight before the process even starts.
3. Similarly, details can be uncovered to easily assist in knowing ahead of time you don't want a potential juror. For example, if the trial involves a non-profit business, you may find that a potential juror is an annual contributor to that business.
4. Finally, social media can help determine if potential jurors are lying during the voir dire process. Fact checking using social media monitoring is quicker and more efficient than prior methods.
Using social media effectively is a gift to the industry; people act very differently sometimes in different situations. You can get a truer, more genuine understanding of people by monitoring their online history, as people tend to be more "real" when interacting with others online.