37. Explicit Bias and the Jury Box, with Raam Wong
Something that concerns trial lawyers more than ever is seating a juror with intractable explicit biases or who believes in conspiracy theories. King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Raam Wong experienced this situation when he prosecuted a high-profile, near-fatal shooting of an antifascist protester during a demonstration in Seattle in 2017. Raam joins the podcast to talk about voir dire and deselection tactics, experts and evidence, and checking your own biases at the courtroom door. Topics5:25 Political violence and Hokoana case9:57 Factors that contributed to mistrial14:38 Juror “tells” during voir dire16:50 Conspiracy theories about a witness20:17 Digging into social media20:30 Questions for deselecting jurors24:36 Willful disregard of evidence, civil versus criminal cases27:30 Addressing juror attitudes32:50 Remedying attention span issues37:50 Believing in or rejecting expert opinion40:50 Concerns about physical safety at trial 45:01 Signoff questionQuote“As trial lawyers, we really have to grapple with [. . .] stereotypes every day in court—the assumptions we have about people and the assumptions that the jury might hold. And at times it can be really effective, as advocates, if our good facts kind of match up, or reinforce, the jury’s preexisting beliefs. But at the same time, as a prosecutor, I’m trying to do justice, and doing justice, in my mind, means ensuring that our courtrooms are open to everyone, and that means not making assumptions about people based on demographics or other characteristics.” Raam Wong ResourcesRaam Wong (bio)State v. Hodgman (case file)Alt-Right Event in Seattle Devolves into Chaos and Violence, Outside, Truth-Twisting Inside (SPLC Hatewatch)Righteous or reckless? Trial under way for couple accused in UW shooting during Milo Yiannopoulos speech (Seattle Times)