11.3 Jury Selection and Bench versus Jury Trials

Voir dire

Voir dire is the questioning and selection process for prospective jurors. The judge and attorneys may ask about qualifications, experience, bias, hardship, or ability to follow law. Procedures vary widely. Some courts use juror names; others use numbers to protect privacy. The reporter must learn the approved identifiers and seating map before questioning begins.

Rapid answers from the gallery or jury box create speaker-identification risk. Position microphones and annotate juror identifier before the response. If several jurors answer together, request clarification under court protocol. Do not include protected names in public notes when the court uses numbers.

Challenges

A challenge for cause asserts a legal reason a prospective juror cannot serve; the judge rules. A peremptory challenge may remove a juror without the same showing, subject to constitutional and procedural restrictions. The reporter captures challenges, objections, conferences, and rulings as directed. Do not infer the reason for a strike or disclose a private bench discussion.

Jury trial

In a jury trial, the judge controls law and procedure while the jury generally determines facts and returns a verdict. The reporter may cover:

• voir dire and jury selection;
• openings;
• witness testimony and exhibits;
• objections and rulings;
• bench conferences when ordered;
• discussions outside the jury's presence;
• closing arguments;
• jury instructions;
• verdict announcement and polling; and
• post-verdict proceedings.

Jury deliberations are private and ordinarily not recorded. Secure microphones and remote connections so deliberation is not accidentally captured or accessible. Follow the judge's explicit directions.

Bench trial

In a bench trial, the judge acts as fact-finder and decision-maker. There is no jury selection, but evidence, objections, witnesses, exhibits, arguments, and findings remain important. The judge may ask more questions or issue oral findings. A bench trial is not informal merely because no jury is present.

Operational comparison

Both require complete, impartial capture of authorized proceedings.

Sidebars and jury-out matters

A judge may call a bench conference or excuse the jury to address evidence or procedure. Do not stop merely because jurors leave. Follow record-status direction and move or switch coverage only as authorized. Log when jury exits and returns if required. A sidebar may use a dedicated microphone, headset, or later reconstructed record; follow the court's method.

Juror privacy

Questioning can reveal health, employment, family, victimization, or other sensitive information. Preserve confidentiality and sealed segments. Avoid using full juror data in filenames or ordinary messages. Audio requests and public copies may require review or redaction.

Exam distinctions

The jury decides facts in a jury trial, not admissibility; the judge rules on law and evidence. In a bench trial the judge also finds facts. The reporter records both but decides neither. Voir dire means jury selection, not witness direct examination.

Exam application

During voir dire, the court uses juror numbers, but counsel repeatedly say surnames while questioning sensitive history. Follow the court's identifier and confidentiality procedure rather than copying names into public filenames or casual notes. A seating change should be recorded so answers remain tied to the correct juror. When a challenge is discussed at sidebar, capture it through the authorized path and let the judge rule. The reporter neither chooses jurors nor explains why a party used a strike.

Review checkpoint

A voir dire recording plan should include the bench, counsel, and every juror position or approved portable coverage. Test identifiers and acoustics with the seating map before questioning. If the panel moves, update both position and label.

Jury-out proceedings remain important. Motions, proffers, and rulings may occur after jurors leave and become central on appeal. Continue or stop only under explicit direction. The absence of jurors changes audience and sometimes confidentiality, not the reporter's authority to decide record status. A bench trial removes jury phases but still demands full witness, exhibit, objection, and ruling capture.

Numbers the exam can test

Jury mechanics come with concrete figures in the federal rules, and they are among the few places where a CER question can have an exact numeric answer.

Polling deserves the reporter's attention because it is short, rapid, individually attributed, and dispositive. Each juror's separate answer must be captured and tied to the correct juror identifier; a single unintelligible response in a poll can cast doubt on the verdict itself.

Peremptory challenges have constitutional limits

A peremptory challenge requires no stated reason, but it may not be used to strike a juror on the basis of race, and the Supreme Court's decision in Batson v. Kentucky established the framework courts use to evaluate such objections; later cases extended the principle to additional protected categories. When a Batson objection is raised, counsel may be required to give a reason and the judge rules on it — often at sidebar. Capture the objection, the stated reason, and the ruling as a unit. The reporter records the exchange without characterizing the motive.

Bench trials still produce findings

In an action tried on the facts without a jury, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a)(1) requires the court to find the facts specially and state its conclusions of law separately, and those findings and conclusions may be stated on the record after the close of the evidence rather than in a written opinion. Oral findings delivered from the bench are therefore a high-value capture event in a bench trial — sometimes the only articulation of the court's reasoning, and the passage an appellate court reads most closely.