Defense counsel in the Whitmer kidnapping federal trial has filed an allegation that one of the sitting jurors told coworkers she wanted to serve on the jury, had prejudged the case and wanted a particular result. The lawyer's filing was made after the second day of trial and was briefly available but since sealed. The trial judge has indicated that an in-chambers (in camera) questioning of the juror will occur without defendants or attorneys present. Their request to be present was denied. I will update this post as matters progress. However, it is a red flag as the in-chambers questioning could be found by an appellate court to be a crucial stage of the proceedings at which the defendant must be allowed to be present. Stay tuned.
JURORS BEHAVING BADLY
A blog about the very small percentage of jurors who fail to follow the judge's instructions, including doing independent Internet research, using social media (such as Facebook) to contact parties and lawyers, and blogging about the trial. Juror misconduct frequently results in mistrials and a waste of resources. Links will be provided to sample jury summonses, jury instructions, and other resources to improve juror education and minimize juror misconduct, thereby promoting fairness of trials.

Sunday, August 14, 2022
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Observations About In-court Jury Trials and Remote Hearings During Covid
Once jury trials resumed in 2021 there were many challenges facing the courts. Some jurors were reluctant or even refused to come to the courthouse for a trial once summoned. Despite state court mandates on 2 occasions I had jurors show up on the first day of trial and refuse to wear a mask. During proceedings it is very important to keep a good record, so the court reporter must be able to clearly hear attorneys, witnesses, jurors and the judge. Attorneys had to be reminded frequently to briefly drop their masks while speaking. This was simply an inconvenience. A more serious issue which I faced was a criminal defendant allegedly testing positive for Covid the night before day one of a long-delayed trial. Whether it was true or not we could not risk infecting court staff, jurors, bailiffs, and attorneys if the defendant was required to appear for trial. Many trials throughout MN were delayed because of participants testing positive.
Some trials were conducted in a hybrid manner with some witnesses appear remotely via Zoom, much as you may have observed in the January 6 Congressional hearings. This raised issues such as:
1. Is the witness reading from a script?
2. Are there others off-camera prompting the witness? During other hearings I had to ask the party on screen to confirm whether anyone else was in the room. Sometimes there was a family member or friend whispering "Tell the judge..."
3. During all kinds of remote hearings, echnology issues such as poor bandwidth or equipment caused us to lose the person on Zoom, or we could not hear them or they could not hear us.
4. As has been the subject of tv ads, people showed up for Zoom hearings inappropriately dressed, eating or drinking, or smoking, or in a noisy room or outside on their deck. The trappings of the courtroom and its sense of serious business taking place was largely lost.
All of the above and other issues with remote hearings caused incredible stress on the participants, lawyers, judges and court staff. Having retired I have no idea if these issues have abated, but I hope so. Respect for our system of justice is integral to our democracy, which is under serious attack everywhere.
Friday, July 29, 2022
As Jury Trials Resumed as Covid Abated, Jury Misconduct Continued In Familiar Ways in Some High-profile Cases
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
I'm Back
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
SUDOKU-PLAYING GETS JUROR DISMISSED
Friday, July 16, 2021
Juror Found in Contempt and Fined over $11,000
Friday, April 23, 2021
Judges Should Not Disregard Affidavits Alleging Juror Misconduct
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Friday, November 6, 2020
Jurors Behaving Self-Centered: Fed. Judge to Excuse Anti-masking Jurors
Friday, September 25, 2020
Friday, April 24, 2020
Post-Covin19 Courts: Where Do We Go From Here?
https://www.law360.com/trials/articles/1265533/jury-in-paused-hacking-trial-to-be-polled-on-virus-concerns?nl_pk=cefc1377-7f29-477c-92de-8ebee6ee3d0f&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=trials
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Juror Dismissed From Federal Leaker Case
"...one (juror) was dismissed during deliberations last week for reading news coverage of the case..."
The federal government must be concerned that it is spending millions to prosecute serious (El Chapo and Tsarnaev) criminals and lesser (Schulte) criminals only to be possibly thwarted by juror misconduct. It's a serious problem in federal and state courts and seems to be continuing unabated.
Friday, January 31, 2020
Friday, December 6, 2019
Followup to Sept 16 post: NY's Highest Court Blasts Internet-Researching Jurors
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/nyregion/robert-neulander-wife-murdered.html
Monday, September 16, 2019
Murder Conviction Tossed-Juror had texted 7,000 times during trial
https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/robert-neulander-juror-texting-court-of-appeals-1.35890070
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
What is a "Rogue Juror?"
http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B285482.PDF
Friday, April 12, 2019
Self-described "Stupid Old Fool" Juror Gets 8 Months in Jail for Internet Research
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6891529/Stupid-old-fool-65-jailed-doing-background-research-complex-criminal-trial.html
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Defense Attorneys for El Chapo File Motion for Retrial
Link:https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/el-chapo-retrial-jury-misconduct-investigation-813433/
Monday, February 25, 2019
El Chapo Trial May Involve Juror Misconduct
http://e.startribune.com/Olive/ODN/StarTribune/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=MST%2F2019%2F02%2F24&entity=Ar01502&sk=A293F31E&mode=text
Friday, February 8, 2019
Friday, November 30, 2018
Prospective Juror in Criminal Case Causes Mistrial
Link
https://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/mclennan-county-justice-delayed-in-two-trials/article_003b49e4-93af-5fb9-a6af-389d5852db33.html
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
After Trial, Juror Sends Victim "Virtual Hugs"
Friday, August 24, 2018
Thorough Inquiry of Jurors Often Nececssary If Outside Influences May Have Affected Deliberations
http://mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/Appellate/Court%20of%20Appeals/Standard%20opinions/OPa171237-082018.pdf
Friday, May 25, 2018
Friday, May 4, 2018
ABA Article on Lawyers Searching Potential Jurors on Linked-In
https://abaforlawstudents.com/2018/05/01/is-it-ethical-for-lawyers-to-use-linkedin-to-research-jurors/
Friday, April 27, 2018
Deja Vu: Facebooking Jurors Cause a Reversal of a Murder Conviction
LINK: https://cdn.radioiowa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Christensen-opinion-PDF.pdf
Friday, April 20, 2018
British Juror Gets Suspended Jail Sentence for Internet Research
Link:
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/16164599.Juror_avoids_jail_after_internet_research_of_case_forces_retrial/
Monday, April 16, 2018
Friday, March 23, 2018
Juror Playing Games on Phone During Deliberations Held in Contempt
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-43490590