The US jury system is afflicted by 'stealth jurors' who are determined to become celebrities after trial, a leading television legal analyst told the conference.

Mickey Sherman, a criminal defence lawyer and a legal affairs commentator for national broadcast network CBS, said recent years and high-profile cases had seen prospective jurors lying to courts about their previous knowledge of a case.


'They are desperate to get on a jury because they want to become celebrities themselves after the trial has finished,' said Mr Sherman. 'These people are like swarms of red ants crawling over our justice system.'


Psychologist Shari Diamond from Chicago's Northwestern University said it was difficult to strike the right balance between a useful general awareness of issues and impartiality in relation to the guilt or innocence of a defendant.


'There are some things that are extremely difficult for prospective jurors to put out of their minds,' she said, pointing to pre-trial media reports of alleged confessions as a principal example. 'You have to distinguish between different types of pre-trial publicity. You don't want people who have made up their minds in advance, but on the other hand you don't want people who have been living under a rock.'


A series of recent high-profile cases in the US has seen jurors writing books about their experiences in the jury box. But Los Angeles-based lawyer Kelli Sager, the former chairwoman of the ABA's forum on communications law, cautioned that it would be dangerous to attempt to clamp down on the practice.


'If you say jurors can't write books, then why can't you say lawyers or judges can't write books?' To do so, said Ms Sager, would run contrary to the first amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees free speech.


- The vast majority of Americans view jury service positively, ABA research released at the conference revealed. Nearly 85% said jury service is an 'important civic duty that should be fulfilled, even if it happens to be inconvenient'. Slightly more than 60% of US citizens have been called for jury service.