Not quite. In every jury selection I've been through, there were people obviously chosen or not chosen for specific attributes, none of which had anything to do with intelligence, level of education, age, etc. Jurors were not chosen at random...only the initial pool of jurors was selected in any "random" fashion. American attorneys try to look for specific characteristics in jurors, depending on the circumstances of the case.

Oh no it is not!

In the UK, lawyers do not get to pick and choose jurors; jurors are entirely random. The only way a juror can be 'excused' is if it turns out they are related to the defendent or something.

This is a good thing.