Judge Allen Sharp 124 Federal Building 204 S. Main Street South Bend, IN 46601 (574) 246-8170 Case Management           Scott Jackson       (574) 246-8171 Court Reporters           Joanne Hoffman       Loretta Spromberg       (574) 246-8038 Judge Allen Sharp 220 Federal Building 230 N. Fourth Street Lafayette, IN 47901 (765) 420-6260 Case Management           Cannie Inman       (765) 420-6250 Court Reporters           Joanne Hoffman       Loretta Spromberg       (574) 246-8038 Voir Dire - Criminal In criminal jury trials, the court will seat 16 jurors, four of which are alternates. The four jurors will not know they are alternates until the names are drawn randomly out of the jury wheel at the conclusion of the evidence and the court's instructions. The alternates will normally be dismissed while the 12 jurors are deliberating. Generally 55 prospective jurors will be called to the trial. The parties will be given a alphabetical listing of all of the jurors the first day of trial. Counsel will have a book of all of the questionnaires for the jurors that sent them in. The clerk will collect the books after voir dire is complete. The court will ask questions of the entire panel before drawing names randomly out of the jury wheel. The clerk will pull 16 names and the jurors will be seated in the jury box. At that time the court will ask more personal questions of the jurors seated in the box. When this is complete, the court will ask counsel to approach the bench to see if any additional questions need to be asked. Counsel will have time to confer with their clients. Once ready, counsel will approach the bench for challenges. Judge Sharp will be the only one to question the jury throughout the voir dire process. Challenges are presented orally, one at a time, alternating between the government and the defendant. Challenges for cause will be taken first. After challenges for cause have been completed the court will ask for peremptory challenges. The government will have 8 peremptory challenges and the defendant(s) collectively will have 12 peremptory challenges. Once counsel have finished using their challenges for each round, the court will dismiss the challenged jurors. After each round, the clerk will randomly pull jurors names from the jury wheel to fill the vacated seats. This procedure will continue until the 16 jurors have been selected. The jury will be sworn at this time. It is important to remember that the court DOES NOT ALLOW "back-striking". Once you have passed on a juror, you cannot challenge that juror in a subsequent round of challenges. In his 31 years, Judge Sharp has rarely imposed sanctions under Rule 11, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and generally does not feel the need to do so.

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