Yes, a lot of people who serve on juries are sharp individuals but when you have an important case that is supposed to last 6-8 months, the jury selection is widdled down to the lowest common denominator...because no one can afford to be out of work for almost a year at 10 measley bucks a day. The side that wins is the one with the best attorney...and that's all there is to it.
From a
1998 speech by an Australian judge...
In the United States three changes are occurring which are relevant to the composition of a jury in that country and therefore to communication with its members. The first is a statutory phenomenon which has not yet really spread outside the United States. I refer to the deletion in many States of exemptions from jury service 29 . This means that it is perfectly possible, in those jurisdictions which have opted for a no exemptions jury, to strike on the jury a practising attorney, a former judge, a police officer or other official who may be quite knowledgeable about the law. The fact that a jury might include such persons, and that they cannot by law be excluded (except for cause unrelated to their occupation) imposes a new burden on lawyers to adjust their advocacy to special knowledge and to avoid belabouring points which may be well known to the expert juror, although not to others. At least for the moment, this is a complication which we do not face in Australia 30 . However, in changing times when talk of popular sovereignty is common, the idea of the truly universal jury cannot be completely ignored.
and further on...
Adopting the foregoing division of the population, projections of future juries in the United States, as they will be empanelled in the year 2000, suggest that 27% of them will be seniors; 32% baby-boomers and 41% from gen.x. It seems likely that, given roughly similar age compositions of our population, the same pattern will be repeated in a country such as Australia 38 .
It's an interesting speech this judge gave and sheds light on much that has been changing in our jury system, including the variation in jury composition in different jurisdictions. You've brought up a noteworthy point. It might be worth the time to find out just how SLC selects its jurors.