The Denver Post
Expert describes jurors to avoid
Friday, August 27, 2004 -
Eagle - As jury selection begins in the Kobe Bryant case, it is up to Judge Terry Ruckriegle and the lawyers to find jurors who can put aside their assumptions and base their verdict solely on what they hear in the courtroom.
Those jurors will decide whether or not the basketball star raped a hotel worker in his room at an Eagle County resort 13 months ago, or whether as Bryant claims the young woman was a willing sex partner. Karen Lisko, senior litigation consultant at Persuasion Strategies, a service of the Denver law firm of Holland & Hart, said in an analysis of Bryant jury selection that certain personality types would be devastating for the prosecution and the defense if seated on the jury. "The strategy that both sides should follow is to focus on who they don't want rather than on who they want to keep," Lisko said. "They have far less control over who stays." Lisko said prosecutors want to avoid several types of jurors. These include what she calls the "crying wolf skeptic," someone who: - Has heard about the accuser's civil lawsuit against Bryant and believes it confirms she is a golddigger. - Believes the accuser "got what she deserved" by going into Bryant's hotel room alone. This type of potential juror, Lisko said, is also know as a "just world juror" who believes in this world, bad things don't happen to a person unless the person is somehow to blame as well. - Believes he/she knows what a victim's "normal" behavior would be like in the wake of a sexual assault. Lisko said that female jurors are "high risk" for both the defense and prosecution. "Women will not be automatically good for either side," she said. "They need to be watched closely for their attitudinal responses during voir dire because they are likely to be credible and important during deliberations - becoming experts on what a woman would or would not do after being sexually assaulted." Lisko said prosecutors also have to watch out for the "Kobe sympathizer," a potential juror who: - Believes Bryant would have no reason to force himself on anyone given his celebrity status. - Believes Bryant appears to be the "model of restraint" in news video as he goes in and out of the courtroom, and therefore finds it unlikely he could be out of control in other settings. - Is a professional basketball fan, especially a fan of Bryant's team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Lisko said that others whom prosecutors have to be aware of are the "anti-prosecution" person who dislikes prosecutors and law enforcement personnel generally and the "sexual traditionalist" who believes no reasonable woman would accompany a man alone to his hotel room. Lisko said the Bryant defense must weed out people who generally are "pro-victim in rape cases," "pro-prosecution," are "celebrity averse" and racist." The "pro-victim" potential juror, she said: - Believes a victim would only go through the trouble of trial if her claims were valid. - Is a victim's rights advocate. - Believes sexual assaults are vastly underreported. - Has personally been sexually assaulted or knows someone who has been. Lisko said the "celebrity averse" potential juror: - Believes celebrities are arrogant to the point of seeing themselves above the law. - Believes celebrities receive special treatment from authorities. - Work in the service industry and have observed celebrities' arrogance first-hand. - Believes someone capable of a one-night stand cannot be trusted on the witness stand. Lisko said that type's attitude is: "If he lied to his wife, what's stopping him from lying to the jury to save himself?" |