Advisory juries are common in cases involving issues of community standards, such as obscenity laws. How much judges rely on advisory juries varies, according to an article in the Harvard Law Review . With a jury, you have a cross section of the community. They're somewhat less predictable than a judge. A judge, no matter how fair they try to be, they get reputations, proclivities, after they've been on the bench for awhile.
Judges are subject to prejudices just like any other individual.
With juries, you've got a group mentality. You've got to convince everyone or none. U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford of Beaumont, who will help defend the government, said having a jury will force government attorneys to change their tactics. We want to make sure that the jury will have the necessary background. Bradford declined further comment on Smith's decision to impanel a jury.