Abstract
Expert witnesses play a significant role in influencing the jury’s decisions regarding a case. Expert witness deconstructs intricate issues about the case, making it easy for the jury to understand the technicalities of the trial. Expert witnesses tend to exhibit a lot of professionalism, confidence, and a strong grasp of details regarding the case. These traits tend to compel the jury to trust the opinion of such witnesses more than the factual witnesses. The ability of trial consultants to pick the jurors, witnesses, and play part in helping attorneys build a strong case, is a clear indication of how case consultants are important in influencing jury decisions. Case consultants who specialize in psychology and communication tend to help attorneys select specific members of the jury to appeal to in their arguments to help increase the chances of winning the case. There is a need to extensively train jury members on these issues to avoid any compromises in their verdicts.
The Impact of Expert Witnesses on Juries
Criminal or civil case processes start with arrests, first appearance, preliminary hearing, and prosecution to allow the defendant to enter a guilty or not guilty plea. In the scenario that a not guilty plea is entered, the judge sets a trial date for the hearing of the case. The right to trial is enshrined in the constitution as the defendant’s right, so as the right to an attorney. However, in a trial, there are several actors at play to determine the outcomes of the case. In addition to factual witnesses, both the expert witness and trial consultants play a significant role in influencing the jury’s decisions and outcomes of the case. This paper seeks to evaluate the responsibilities of both specialist witnesses and trial consultants while establishing influences they both have on jury decisions.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Witnesses shade more light about a case and help both the judge and jury establish a verdict for the case. Expert witnesses unlike factual witnesses who are employed based on providing details about the case has been present during the event, expert witnesses are contracted in the trial based on their professionalism and proficiency of certain subjects related to the case. Courts prohibit witnesses from the provision of personal opinions regarding the case while testifying but make such an exception when it comes to expert witnesses (Blackwell & Seymour, 2015). Owing to the difference in essence and technicalities of cases that comes before the court, different experts are sorted on how best their expertise serves the case at hand; experts can range from medical, financial, engineering, security, mental health issues, parenting experts among others (Blackwell & Seymour, 2015). An expert agrees to testify either in the agreement of one party of the case or both and also in some instances under the request of the court.
Expert witnesses are relied upon to provide an unbiased and technical opinion regarding the case. To qualify as a technical witness, one has to have skills, education, or work experience in the given field demanded by the case. He/she should provide a report of the testimony to be reviewed by both parties before and during the trial. The report is also essential in helping lawyers of both parties cross-examine the witness (Blackwell & Seymour, 2015). Additionally, the expert is required to analyze technical data and information and present it in a layman’s language for both the jury, judge, and lawyers to gain insights about the technical sides of their case. Since the expert witness will be required to take an oath, his/her testimony should be factual, unbiased, and independent and does not lean towards supporting any party involved in the case.
The Jurors are charged with the responsibility of deciding whether a defendant is guilty or not based on the evidence provided both by the factual and expert witnesses and case arguments by lawyers of both parties. However, expert witnesses have a significant influence on the decisions jury makes regarding a case. According to Blackwell & Seymour, 2015 “Responses indicated that jurors welcomed and valued expert testimony, perceiving it as an opportunity to hear from someone neutral in the context of the adversarial process” (Blackwell & Seymour, p. 677). This affirms the value of expert witness for a trial, especially how jurors rely on expert opinions in establishing a verdict. However, Jurors are more attracted to the testimony of an expert witness when the witness meets the following threshold; relevant professional experience tops the list when considering the credibility of the witness’s testimony, the experience from having testified from previous cases is an added advantage and more convincing to jurors to trust the testimony (Blackwell & Seymour, 2015). Despite jurors lacking a legal background, initial coaching on how to rate witnesses and directions on how to rule a case helps them in identifying the credibility of a technical witness (Wilcox & NicDaeid, 2018). In addition to professional experience, clarity regarding the facts of the case, analysis of the technical issues, and exhaustive explanation by the witness have been considered as the main reason jurors tend to use the witnesses’ testimony in establishing a verdict.
Provided the expert witnesses are; knowledgeable, demonstrates a lot of clarity, and is unbiased in their presentation and analysis of the evidence provided, jurors are swayed towards trusting the message emanating from them (expert witness) (Wilcox & NicDaeid, 2018). It is necessary to note that jurors lack technical expertise and legal know-how regarding the details of the case and this makes them susceptible to be swayed and convinced by the evaluation of the evidence provided by the expert witnesses (Wilcox & NicDaeid, 2018). Therefore, it is correct to assert that expert witnesses have an enormous impact on juror’s decisions especially in more technical cases like rape, medical, engineering, financial among others (Blackwell & Seymour, 2015). The susceptibility of jurors due to their less grasp of the technicalities of the evidence puts them at risk of disregarding factual witnesses or eyewitnesses and using the expert’s testimony to build their verdict.
There are a lot of activities that happen before the trial; ranging from identification of the witnesses, selection of the jury, and preparation of the case. Case preparation is a tedious process and requires a collaborative effort to present the best case. Trial consultants are professionals with either a psychological background, law, anthropology, or relevant experiencing in the field of law consulting (Bartol & Bartol, 2018). The initial role of trial consulting was to handpick jurors through a rigorous vetting process, this is why consultants are recommended to have a psychological background since it helps in vetting and selection of jurors. However, the roles of trial consultants have extended over the years into helping the attorneys in selecting witnesses, prepare witnesses, train, and do extensive research on the case (Cramer & Brodsky, 2014). Additionally, due to most of some cases transitioning to out of court settlement, trial consultants provide mediation and arbitration services for parties involved in cases of such nature.
During the buildup of a strong case, trial consultants with expertise in either psychological field, sociology, technology, or communication help their clients in training their witnesses and testing their effectiveness and readiness through a mock trial. The cross-examination of a witness during the mock trial helps the attorneys establish the weak links in their cases and rectify them before the actual trial (Cramer & Brodsky, 2014). Additionally, case consultants work with the lawyers to develop strong opening and closing statements for their cases; while also training the attorneys on effective ways to deliver the complex sections of the case in a simple and easy to understand manner.
Trial consultants specialize in different fields as mentioned earlier; the field of psychology, sociology, communication among others. However, consultants who specialize in jury selection are significant to the attorney’s case, right from preparation of the witnesses, attorney’s oral arguments, opening and closing statements (Cramer & Brodsky, 2014). Trial consultants help the attorney in singling out the number of jurors to appeal to in their argument and this helps the attorney in building up the case, through arguments specifically targeting a given number of jurors as recommended by the consultant (Cramer & Brodsky, 2014). Consultants research about the characters of jurors involved in a case, preparation of a case with a laser-focus aimed at specific members of the jury; who are likely to be swayed by the attorney’s arguments and the witnesses’ testimonies, is a clear indication that trial consultants have a bigger influence in a jury decision. This is so because they spend a significant amount of time studying every member of the jury and establishing ways to appeal to each one of them, towards ruling in their favor.
Adept witnesses and case consultants contribute significantly in influencing the jury through the provision of expert opinion on certain technical issues of the case and aiding the attorneys in preparation of a strong case with a major focus on weak links in the jury. These two groups have a significant amount of power in influencing the verdict of a case. It behooves the court and judiciary system to have a framework in place to train the members of the jury before the case to dissociate themselves from emotional appeals and focus on technical and factual evidence without putting themselves at risk of overexploitation from both the jury and trial consultants.
References
Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. C. (2018). Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Research and Application (5 ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Blackwell, S., & Seymour, F. (2015). Expert Evidence and Jurors’ Views on Expert Witnesses. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 22 (5), 673-681.
Cramer, R. J., & Brodsky, S. L. (2014). Bringing Psychology to the Courtroom and Vice Versa: Conceptualization and Design of a Course in Trial Consulting. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 14 (2), 145-157.
Wilcox, A. M., & NicDaeid, N. (2018). Jurors’ perceptions of forensic science expert witnesses: Experience, qualifications, testimony style and credibility. Forensic Science International, 291 , 100-108.
