I can speak to this.. although, I'm a few drinks deep so I hope I make sense. I was a foreman once and it's an interesting task, to say the least.
It is very important that you have somebody who can control the flow of the conversation, make sure that everybody is heard, and that everybody sufficiently understands the instructions. Sounds like from their interviews, there were some issues with that. Even though the instructions can be very difficult to understand, there's no excuse for not understanding them. You are given every opportunity in the world to discuss them and ask questions. They should have done that more thoroughly.
Being a foreman is like trying to wrangle elephants. When arguments break out, and they do, you have to keep tempers down and conversations on point so it doesn't get too out of hand. And for those people who don't like to talk or are shy, you need to get them out of their shell and pretty much force them to talk. Every single person must have their say for the system to work properly.
Although the foreman's own opinions are no more important than anybody else's in the room, I will say that if there are (for lack of a better way to say this) weaker minded people who either don't care all that much about the process (sadly, this does exist) or just can't put all the pieces together themselves, they will look to others for guidance. So long story short, the foreman certainly can have influence over the group, even if they don't intend to, just depending how strong they are with their arguments.
And yes, they are also responsible for filling out all forms and filtering them thru the bailiff to the judge.
I like being a juror, and hope to do it again some day, but don't think I'd want to be the foreman again. Holy stress!
