That is, the accused might agree to plead guilty to a lesser charge if the prosecution agrees to drop the more serious charge. In the interest of expediency and moving cases through the courts, plea bargaining typically is encouraged. Whether a case is civil or criminal, the basic process of a trial is similar. The decision maker in a trial can be either a judge or a jury. In civil cases, the parties may have a right to a jury, depending on the subject matter, whether there is an issue of fact to be decided, or whether one party has applied for a jury trial.
All defendants facing serious criminal charges have an absolute right to a jury.
The first step in a jury trial is jury selection, otherwise known as voir dire . During voir dire the attorneys, and occasionally the judge, ask questions of potential jurors in an attempt to gauge their capacity to be fair and impartial. Persons who may somehow be biased or whom the attorney believes will not be sympathetic to his or her case can be removed through a process known as a peremptory challenge . Each attorney has a limited number of peremptory challenges and cannot remove a prospective juror for reasons such as sex or race. After a jury is selected, the members are sworn in.