He was in his late thirties or early forties, intelligent and well-spoken.

He answered every question he was asked in a measured, conscientious manner and promised he would remain just as thoughtful if picked for the panel charged with returning verdicts in the federal death penalty trial surrounding the 2006 slayings of a family of four on Florida’s Turnpike.

As U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley discussed the potential juror with attorneys, though, their conversation wasn’t focused on the man’s views on the death penalty.

The potential juror, an executive at Wachovia, had told them that if he missed two or three months from work in the midst of his bank’s merger with Wells Fargo, he couldn’t be sure he’d have a job when he returned.

“I think this is a situation where he’ll be here at a crucial time, a time of uncertainty in his company, where frankly, they don’t know what will happen,” Hurley said, adding that he worried the man would not be able to focus on the trial knowing his job was in jeopardy.

So the juror was dismissed from service.

Jury consultants and experts say cases like his have always been present in the justice system, but the economic crisis has made them much more prevalent.

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