The Benefits of Using a Shadow Jury in a High-Profile Case
In many high-profile court cases, the final verdict often falls into the hands of the jury. The jury, which is often comprised of random people from throughout a community—random people who all have their own belief systems, opinions, and ideas—is used to determine the facts of the case, determining based on these facts whether a person is guilty or innocent. When dealing with high-profile cases, everything rests in the jury’s hands, so it’s important to know how to present the facts in such a way that works in your favor. This is where a shadow jury comes in.
How Does a Shadow Jury Work?
Even with all the preparation in the world, we can’t always determine how a jury will react to the way we present our facts, key witnesses, and other statements. A shadow jury, which is a group of people who carefully represent what the real jury might look like, sits in the audience each day to analyze your presentation. They report back what they thought about the presentation, potential issues they noticed, questions they have, and other things that need to be altered or fixed to help your case. By adjusting the presentation along the way, your attorney can appeal more to the jury based on the feedback from the shadow jury.
The Benefits
Shadow juries can help make or break a presentation by providing thoughtful feedback that the actual jury may be thinking during the trial. Some of the benefits of having a shadow jury include:
- Provide valuable insights that would not be gained otherwise
- Ask insightful questions, which help to find weaknesses in presentations
- Represent the jury in one way or another, giving us a better-educated guess to what they will decide in the end
- Improving our presentation, making sure the facts are coming across the way we want them to and providing answers to questions the jury may have
Strategic Services from Jonathan Leach, LLC
At Jonathan Leach, LLC, we specialize in trial consulting, and this includes coming up with a shadow jury for your trial. We do so based on the characteristics and demographics of the people who may be in the actual jury. We work as aides to you and your attorney in order for the trial to end with favorable results. If you’re in interested in our services, give us a call today so we can get started. We look forward to helping you.