Texas Restricts Voir Dire Questions About Weight Jurors Will Give Relevant Evidence

The Texas legislature has guaranteed through statute that jury trials shall be conducted by panels of impartial jurors free from bias or prejudice. And of course one of the purposes of voir dire is to attempt to exclude jurors who are biased or prejudiced. In interpreting that rule, the Texas Supreme Court has adopted a general rule that it is improper to ask prospective jurors what their verdict would be if certain facts were proved.

In Hyundai Motor Co. v. Vasquez, No. 03-0914 (Tex. Mar. 10, 2006), the court extended that holding to prohibit voir dire questions addressed to the weight a juror would give to a relevant piece of evidence.

In this case, the court reversed an intermediate appellate court that had found the trial court to have abused its discretion in refusing to permit plaintiff’s counsel to ask prospective jurors whether the fact that plaintiff was not wearing her seat belt would have been determinative of their verdict.