A stealth juror or rogue juror is a person who, motivated by a hidden agenda in reference to a legal case, attempts to be seated on the

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

and to influence the outcome. Legal scholars believe that lawyers can identify stealth jurors by paying close attention to non-verbal behavior connected with deception and identifying discrepancies between answers to oral ''

voir dire (; often ; from an Anglo-Norman term in common law meaning "to speak the truth") is a legal term for procedures during a trial that help a judge decide certain issues: * Prospective jurors are questioned to decide whether they can be fair and i ...

'' and written questionnaires. A potential stealth juror may be hard to read and excessively reserved. The potential for stealth jurors to nullify

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

statutes has prompted calls to eliminate the requirement of a unanimous verdict in jury trials. On the other hand, the argument has been raised that stealth jurors can serve as a defense against bad laws. Clay Conrad has stated that libertarian-minded ''

'' members can and should increase their odds of getting on a jury by telling the prosecutors what they want to hear, without actually lying. Jurors who lie to get on a jury can be charged with such offenses as

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...

and

obstruction of justice In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...

Background check A background check is a process used by an organisation or person to verify that an individual is who they claim to be, and check their past record to confirm education, employment history, and other activities, and for a criminal record. The fr ...

s are increasingly being used to catch jurors who lie about their

criminal records A criminal record (not to be confused with a police record or arrest record) is a record of a person's criminal convictions history. The information included in a criminal record, and the existence of a criminal record, varies between countrie ...

Incidents

Three stealth jurors allegedly lied to get on the jury in the trial of Scott Peterson for the murder of his wife Laci Peterson. Peterson's lawyers argued that " getting on a nationally famous case, hese jurorsmay have aspirations of working their jury service into a book, interviews or some other form of celebrity and possible monetary benefit." The lawyers argued that Peterson would have a better chance of getting a fair trial outside of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, the entertainment capital of the world, since many of the jurors there might be publicity hungry. After the

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...

trial, a juror who gave several media interviews after the conviction was accused by Stewart's lawyers of misconduct by lying to get on the jury. His statements to the media after the verdict proclaiming Stewart's conviction as a "victory for the little guy who loses money in the markets because of these types of transactions" were used by the lawyers for the defendants to argue that the verdict was tainted by this juror's alleged agenda to convict. In June 2008, after a judge, during deliberations in a "gang murder" trial, dismissed a juror who was found to have falsely denied her gang affiliation on a jury selection questionnaire,

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City, California, Redwood City is th ...

Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said: "It is our subjective opinion that she was a stealth juror, that she specifically wanted to be on this jury." Juror dishonesty on questionnaires threatened the six-month-long federal corruption trial of former

Illinois Governor The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

George Ryan George Homer Ryan (February 24, 1934 – May 2, 2025) was an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Secretary of State of Illinois from 1991 ...

In popular culture

John Grisham John Ray Grisham Jr. (; born February 8, 1955) is an American novelist, lawyer, and former politician, known for his best-selling legal thrillers. According to the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 37 ...

's book ''

The Runaway Jury ''The Runaway Jury'' is a legal thriller novel written by American author John Grisham. It was Grisham's seventh novel. The hardcover first edition was published by Doubleday Books in 1996 (). Pearson Longman released the graded reader editio ...

'' is about a stealth juror who—having made very meticulous, year-long preparations—serves in a tobacco-related case and by a variety of tricks manages to get other members of the jury to vote the way he intended. The

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

based on it is about a stealth juror in a gun-related case.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Deception Juries