Really, What Is A Jury of Your Peers?

Bail Bond Cowboys wants the public to have answers to the myriad of questions that surround the criminal justice system and your constitutional rights. We bring those answers to you in the form of video interviews by Attorneys.Media of legal experts in your area and across the country.

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“A jury of your peers? You know, twelve of your peers. Does that actually happen?”

Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA

“Well, I don’t know. Is anyone my peer? Or is anyone your peer?”

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“That’s the question. How are they going to be viewed? How are you going to be viewed? Do you have to have the same set of circumstances in my life, as my life, if I was a defendant, are you going to look for the same type of people that could understand where I’m coming from?”

Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA

“Well it would be nice if you could find people like that, but you’re stuck with the jury pool that comes in. And I will say that I have been moved by the quality of the jurors I have seen. Most of them are college graduates. Many of them have post graduate degrees. Many of them have positions of responsibility. They are people who are leaders. Oftentimes, there are some exceptions. It’s not that blue collar people don’t come in, but they seem to be less a part of the jury pool today than they were 20 or 30 years ago.”

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“Why is that? That’s actually a very good question. Is that because of Silicon Valley exploding in the Bay Area?”

Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA

“I suspect that the old distinction between a blue-collar worker who was someone who was a mechanic or a plumber or something like that versus a white-collar person, a person working with a suit and tie in an office…those distinctions are blurring a bit because of Silicon Valley having a dress code where someone coming in a coat and tie like this would be looked at with suspicion. But they’re certainly not blue-collared workers, the person doing more hands-on oriented jobs.”

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“Trades.”

Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA

“Trades for example. Right. However significant those would be, see for example if you knew someone who was working as a waterline person, you wouldn’t know they were doing their job unless there was a problem with the water. But if that person was retired, that person would be available to serve on a jury. Would that person be a peer? The general word for peer is just someone who is fitting into the community. So, if someone lives in the community, lives in the Bay Area, so that’s really more of what it is. The idea, I think is that it’s not someone who is appointed, it’s not a government employee, it’s someone who is out in the civilian world.”