Challenging the jury
Once the court clerk has selected the final 12 jurors, they will then enter the jury box to be sworn in as jurors. Prior to this, once the jurors enter the court, both the prosecution and defence council will have the opportunity to challenge one or more of the jurors.
The two challenges both the prosecution and defence can claim are:
To the array, and,
For Cause
The prosecution will also have a special right to stand by.
To the Array
The right to the array will challenge the jury on the basis that it has been chosen in an unrepresentative or biased way.
For Cause
A challenge 'for cause' will challenge an individual juror's right to sit on the jury. In order for such a challenge to be successful, the challenging party will have to provide a valid reason why the juror in question should not sit on that case.
An obvious reason is if the juror has been disqualified for a particular reason. Another reason would be if any witness, or other party to the court proceedings know or is related to the juror.
If such jurors are not removed from the jury then there is the potential for the case conviction to be quashed due to a miscarriage of justice.