Judges, attorneys deal with jurors who fall asleep on the job

OLATHE, Kan. -- A Johnson County juror who was dismissed recently after falling asleep during testimony in a murder trial isn't alone: Two others were booted last week for doing the same thing.

Experts say everything from boring testimony to a need for a post-lunch nap can make jurors sleepy, a problem that has cropped up in courtrooms across the nation over the years.

Retired judge William Cleaver said he used to turn the air conditioning in his courtroom way down to keep jurors awake, and keep a paper clip in his hand to poke himself if he found that he was about to nod off.

In the 1990s, Vanderbilt University professor Nancy King studied jury misconduct, including sleeping jurors, and found that 69 percent of the state and federal judges surveyed had encountered a sleeping juror in the previous three years.

Judges reported sleeping in about 2,300 cases, which was less than 10 percent of their trials during that time period. Of 381 judges who reported having witnessed a sleeping juror, 85 dismissed that person, and only five reported granting a mistrial.

Many of the judges thought it was the job of the attorneys to deal with sleeping jurors, "because, after all, it was the lawyers who put them to sleep," King said.

Some people may find the image of a dozing juror a bit humorous, while others question the quality of the case when someone is able to drift off to sleep.

"I don't know that I can fault the juror," said Kansas City-area lawyer Jim Boggs, past president of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys. "If your case is that boring that people are nodding off, something is wrong with your presentation skills."

But Cleaver, who said he routinely gave jurors breaks about every 90 minutes, said it's tough sometimes to stay alert -- especially when a witness speaks in a monotone voice that can have the same impact as a lullaby on some.

"I'm sure that everyone who has sat in a courtroom and had to go for hours, they realize there's only so much you can absorb," he said.