No questionnaire ahead of time. Judge gave a very brief description of the case and that from her experience it may last around 10 days. She then listened to our reasons for possibly not being able to serve and took notes but didn't excuse anyone yet. She had us take the questionnaire back out to the waiting room to complete then could leave, but have to return on Monday. So I guess after those are reviewed some may be excused right away and others will be interviewed before deciding.
The questionnaire was 9 pages and you answer free-form. Lots of questions, page after page about whether you could be impartial or uncomfortable about illegal aliens, sexually explicit talk/pictures, do you have personal experience with victims or perps, etc... and then the last question was: What do you like to do in your spare time?Guess they wanted to lighten the mood after all that downer stuff.
Interesting to hear how other courts operate. That's a long questionnaire - ours is one page, pretty basic information. Never heard any of our attorneys ask a juror what they did in their spare time.
A 10 day trial would be a felony or maybe even federal case and a fairly big one, from the sounds of it. We've had murder cases that didn't go on that long.
Guess they wanted to lighten the mood after all that downer stuff.
