Eric Rudich
Appearances
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
That would be critical, actually. So if Sean Combs does testify, he will be going through a great deal of prep. And I'm sure he's going to even be prepped just to determine... And if he does testify, how will he be perceived by the jury? So it certainly would not be surprising to me.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
In fact, I think it would be almost a certainty that if he's going to testify, that there will be a jury consultant involved with helping prepare his testimony.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
Very similar. He would undergo a vigorous cross-examination to see how he would respond to very tough questions about evidence and certainly the Cassandra video. I don't think in this case it would be very different. I can't imagine people coming in because there would be the issues with confidentiality. So even though you might have someone sign an NDA, it's not very foolproof.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
And I could see someone go into the media and say, hey, I just participated in a mock witness testing with Sean Combs. And that would be the worst thing he could do for his case.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
Well, you certainly see people's strong political views, especially in this environment. So you may have a defendant who is black, and during your investigation, you may see Confederate flags as part of their social media, which we've seen in the past. So you'll often see extreme political views that you may bring up to the court to indicate to the judge that,
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
Although they may not have indicated during the voir dire process, they may not be a particularly fair and impartial juror in this case.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
That's a great example. So certainly what they say or what they write on the juror questionnaire is informative, but how they react and respond to questions during the voir dire is much more informative and will be indicative of whether they're likely to favor one side or another in this case.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
I think if you're the defense, you certainly want an individual who has kind of a untraditional sexual lifestyle, for example. Probably someone who hasn't followed the case very closely because I think a lot of the media attention has not been very positive to Sean Combs. For the prosecution, you would want probably the reverse.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
Absolutely. So the show Bull is about a jury consultant, and it certainly is a glamorized view of jury consulting with a lot of technology that you wouldn't be allowed to have in the courtroom. Jury consultants, the work that they do is a lot different than what's portrayed in the media. A lot of what we do is behind the scenes to assist attorneys with
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
developing case strategy, determining what their weaknesses are, how to address those weaknesses, what are the profiles of good and dangerous jurors in this case, what kind of visual evidence will help your case. Another task that jury consultants will do as part of their engagement in a trial like this is do very thorough investigations of prospective jurors.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
So we will run background reports on them to determine if they're a registered Democrat or Republican, what their social media presence has been, where they live, their home value. In addition, we're doing a thorough search on their online presence to determine what have they posted, what have they liked. Some people call it cyber-stalking.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
We're just doing background information to determine what publicly available information we have on those jurors that might be indicative of whether they're likely to favor the prosecution or Sean Combs in this case.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
So I'm going to first look at your responses on the juror questionnaire. And then me and my team are going to do a deep dive on your online presence, which I'm sure there is a good amount of. And we're also going to do a deep dive on your personal social media. And we're going to find out, based on your
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
responses to the questions during voir dire in court, are you the type of juror that's going to closely scrutinize the evidence? Or are you going to be someone who's going to be quick to make decisions?
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
And I think in your case, because of your education level, and because you were a public defender, I think you would be more favorable to the defense just based on your demographics and life experience. Very fair assumption.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
All the pretrial research has to be customized. It's similar to conducting a market research study, except your product is your case and you want to see how well received it will be and what you need to do to change your product, i.e. your case, to make it more receptive to prospective jurors.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
Absolutely. And that's an important aspect of our work as jury consultants is to test our clients' cases and do mock trials. We're using or working with actual individuals in the trial venue who could be prospective jurors in this case. Of course, they're not jurors. And this is all done well in advance of trial trials. But typically, a mock trial is one or two or even three days.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
And so we would have a recruiter, similar to a focus group, come and recruit, let's say, 30 or 40 or even more people to arrive at the exercise, And the individuals would be paid for their time. And they come from all walks of life. And so they might be the person who works at a bodega. It might be a secretary. It might be a teacher.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
And the idea is to get a representative sample like you would in a trial jury. But we're looking to see how someone who might be a juror on this case who has similar demographic and characteristics and attitudes and experiences of a prospective juror might react to the case.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
So the questionnaire focuses a lot on hardship and bias, which of course it should. Overall, I'd give the juror questionnaire a B because I think there could be a lot more information included in the juror questionnaire about individuals' attitudes particularly, but it certainly works for the court to determine whether or not someone could be potentially biased.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
Important question is what they've heard about the case, if they formed any opinions about the case that indicate that it may not be a fair and impartial juror on this particular case. There are questions about whether they've been a victim of sexual assault. There are also questions about whether they've been accused of sexually assaulting individuals.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
So there are questions on there to uncover whether someone is potentially, their experiences indicate that they may be biased and may not be a fair and impartial juror in this case.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
For the defense, I would be particularly concerned about individuals who've been victims of sexual assault. And there are probably a number of individuals who say that they were victims, but can still be fair and impartial in this case. You certainly want an individual who has kind of a...
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
untraditional sexual lifestyle, for example, probably someone who hasn't followed the case very closely, because I think a lot of the media attention has not been very positive to Sean Combs, someone who's not had very favorable experiences with law enforcement. For the prosecution, you would want probably the reverse.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
You would want people who have much more traditional sexual lifestyle, maybe individuals who follow the case closely, who've started to form some opinions, maybe have seen the Cassandra video, Individuals who have positive views of law enforcement.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
I would want to know if anyone has been accused of committing a crime or have had negative experiences with law enforcement or mistrustful of prosecutors. So those are just a few of the characteristics I think each side will be looking for when they're selecting the jury in this case.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
It's certainly how they will respond to the follow-up questions during court. It may also come down to what type of sexual assault, when it occurred, how traumatic it was for that individual.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
So all those factors will come into play when determining first if they indicate they could be fair and impartial to begin with, but then also when both sides are evaluating whether or not to use one of their strikes on that particular juror.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
It's true to some extent, but those are, you know, the demographic characteristics that you describe are often a product of individuals' experiences. So the extent to which certain groups have certain experiences, that would be predictive of their verdict orientation. So you may want the blue collar worker, but the question is why?
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
What about their attitudes, their life experiences, their value system that indicates that they may be favorable to your particular case?
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
Often we're retained to assist with jury selection. But for a case like this, it wouldn't surprise me if the jury consultants stayed on to work with the attorneys on, let's say, their opening statements and fine-tune their opening statements based on the research that they've done. Certainly, Jury consultants are often retained on trial to assist with preparing the witnesses for their testimony.
20/20
Bad Rap: A "Good Juror"
For closing arguments, jury consultants are working with the attorneys to help organize the evidence and organize their themes in a way that's persuasive to the jurors. So there's a lot more that jury consultants will do, particularly in a high-stakes case like this.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
In fact, I think it would be almost a certainty that if he's going to testify, that there will be a jury consultant involved with helping prepare his testimony.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
Very similar. He would undergo a vigorous cross-examination to see how he would respond to very tough questions about evidence and certainly the Cassandra video. I don't think in this case it would be very different. I can't imagine people coming in because there would be the issues with confidentiality. So even though you might have someone sign an NDA, it's not very foolproof.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
And I could see someone go into the media and say, hey, I just participated in a mock witness testing with Sean Combs. And that would be the worst thing he could do for his case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
Well, you certainly see people's strong political views, especially in this environment. So you may have a defendant who is black, and during your investigation, you may see Confederate flags as part of their social media, which we've seen in the past. So you'll often see extreme political views that you may bring up to the court to indicate to the judge that,
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
although they may not have indicated it during the voir dire process, they may not be a particularly fair and impartial juror in this case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
That's a great example. So certainly what they say or what they write on the juror questionnaire is informative, but how they react and respond to questions during the voir dire is much more informative and will be indicative of whether they're likely to favor one side or another in this case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
I think if you're the defense, you certainly want an individual who has kind of a untraditional sexual lifestyle, for example. Probably someone who hasn't followed the case very closely because I think a lot of the media attention has not been very positive to Sean Combs. For the prosecution, you would want probably the reverse.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
Absolutely. So the show Bull is about a jury consultant, and it certainly is a glamorized view of jury consulting with a lot of technology that you wouldn't be allowed to have in the courtroom. Jury consultants, the work that they do is a lot different than what's portrayed in the media. A lot of what we do is behind the scenes to assist attorneys with
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
developing case strategy, determining what their weaknesses are, how to address those weaknesses, what are the profiles of good and dangerous jurors in this case, what kind of visual evidence will help your case. Another task that jury consultants will do as part of their engagement in a trial like this is do very thorough investigations of prospective jurors.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
So we will run background reports on them to determine if they're a registered Democrat or Republican, what their social media presence has been, where they live, their home value. In addition, we're doing a thorough search on their online presence to determine what have they posted, what have they liked. Some people call it cyber-stalking.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
We're just doing background information to determine what publicly available information we have on those jurors that might be indicative of whether they're likely to favor the prosecution or Sean Combs in this case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
So I'm going to first look at your responses on the juror questionnaire. And then me and my team are going to do a deep dive on your online presence, which I'm sure there is a good amount of. And we're also going to do a deep dive on your personal social media. And we're going to find out, based on your
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
responses to the questions during voir dire in court, are you the type of juror that's going to closely scrutinize the evidence? Or are you going to be someone who's going to be quick to make decisions?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
And I think in your case, because of your education level and because you were a public defender, I think you would be more favorable to the defense just based on your demographics and life experience. Very fair assumption.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
All the pretrial research has to be customized. It's similar to conducting a market research study, except your product is your case and you want to see how well received it will be and what you need to do to change your product, i.e. your case, to make it more receptive to prospective jurors.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
Absolutely. And that's an important aspect of our work as jury consultants is to test our clients' cases and do mock trials. We're using or working with actual individuals in the trial venue who could be prospective jurors in this case. Of course, they're not jurors. And this is all done well in advance of trial. But typically, a mock trial is one or two or even three days.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
And so we would have a recruiter, similar to a focus group, come and recruit, let's say, 30 or 40 or even more people to arrive at the exercise. And the individuals would be paid for their time. And they come from all walks of life. And so they might be the person who works at a bodega. It might be a secretary. It might be a teacher.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
And the idea is to get a representative sample like you would in a trial jury. But we're looking to see how someone who might be a juror on this case who has similar demographic and characteristics and attitudes and experiences of a prospective juror might react to the case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
So the questionnaire focuses a lot on hardship and bias, which of course it should. Overall, I'd give the juror questionnaire a B because I think there could be a lot more information included in the juror questionnaire about individuals' attitudes particularly, but it certainly works for the court to determine whether or not someone could be potentially biased.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
Important question is what they've heard about the case, if they formed any opinions about the case that indicate that it may not be a fair and impartial juror on this particular case. There are questions about whether they've been a victim of sexual assault. There are also questions about whether they've been accused of sexually assaulting individuals.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
So there are questions on there to uncover whether someone is potentially, their experiences indicate that they may be biased and may not be a fair and impartial juror in this case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
For the defense, I would be particularly concerned about individuals who have been victims of sexual assault. And there are probably a number of individuals who say that they were victims, but can still be fair and impartial in this case. You certainly want an individual who has kind of a untraditional sexual lifestyle, for example.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
Probably someone who hasn't followed the case very closely, because I think a lot of the media attention has not been very positive to Sean Combs. Someone who's not had very favorable experiences with law enforcement. For the prosecution, you would want probably the reverse.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
You would want people who have much more traditional sexual lifestyle, maybe individuals who follow the case closely, who've started to form some opinions. Maybe you've seen the Cassandra video, individuals who have positive views of law enforcement.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
I would want to know if anyone has been accused of committing a crime or have had negative experiences with law enforcement or mistrustful of prosecutors. So those are just a few of the characteristics I think each side will be looking for when they're selecting the jury in this case.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
It's certainly how they will respond to the follow-up questions during court. It may also come down to what type of sexual assault, when it occurred, how traumatic it was for that individual.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
So all those factors will come into play when determining first if they indicate they could be fair and impartial to begin with, but then also when both sides are evaluating whether or not to use one of their strikes on that particular juror.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
It's true to some extent, but those are, you know, the demographic characteristics that you describe are often a product of individuals' experiences. So the extent to which certain groups have certain experiences, that would be predictive of their verdict orientation. So you may want the blue collar worker, but the question is why?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
What about their attitudes, their life experiences, their value system that indicates that they may be favorable to your particular case?
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
Often we're retained to assist with jury selection. But for a case like this, it wouldn't surprise me if the jury consultants stayed on to work with the attorneys on, let's say, their opening statements and fine-tune their opening statements based on the research that they've done. Certainly, Jury consultants are often retained on trial to assist with preparing the witnesses for their testimony.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
For closing arguments, jury consultants are working with the attorneys to help organize the evidence and organize their themes in a way that's persuasive to the jurors. So there's a lot more that jury consultants will do, particularly in a high-stakes case like this.
Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy
The Trial: A "Good Juror"
That would be critical, actually. So if Sean Combs does testify, he will be going through a great deal of prep. And I'm sure he's going to even be prepped just to determine if he does testify, how will he be perceived by the jury? So it certainly would not be surprising to me.