The voir dire process for a Bucks County criminal case implicates three distinct interest. The first is that a litigant has the right to a jury selection process free of discrimination. The second is that a prospective juror has a right to participate in this process with the confidence that he or she was evaluated on the basis of the ability to serve, regardless of racial or ethnic heritage. The third is that the community has the right to an unquestioned belief that our system of justice operates at every level without discrimination. These are outlined in Commonwealth v. Rico.
The minimal standards of constitutional due process guarantee to the accused a trial by a panel of "impartial" and "indifferent" jurors, and the purpose of examining the jurors under voir dire is to secure a competent, fair, impartial and unprejudiced jury. Under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, the manner in which voir dire will be conducted is left to the discretion of the trial judge. The judge may permit counsel to conduct the examination, or the judge may conduct the examination. Each Bucks County judge is different with respect to this portion of the case.
Jury selection is a "critical stage" of a criminal prosecution, requiring assistance of a Bucks County criminal lawyer for the defendant. Voir Dire is not intended to provide a basis for exercising peremptory challenges. The scope of voir dire is therefore limited to determining whether jurors are qualified and whether a juror has formed a fixed opinion or may be otherwise subject to disqualification for cause.