Friday, March 30, 2012

Friday, March 16, 2012

Duke Law Review Article Includes Survey of 140 Jurors

Here is a link to article in Duke Law and Technology Review on jurors and social media.  The authors suggest that judges give specific instructions prohibiting use of social media discussing the trial or doing research on the Internet, and that those instructions be given early during a jury trial and often.  There is an interesting survey of 140 jurors regarding the temptation to use social media.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2020499

Click One-Click-Download to view the entire article.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Thursday, March 1, 2012

ZZZZzzzz: Sleeping Jurors, Awake!

Minnesota has at least 2 appellate decisions on sleeping jurors. And, yes, I have occasionally observed jurors nodding off during trial. (A colleague observed counsel napping during a long trial.)
The MN cases:  State v. Yant, 376 NW2d 487, 491 (Minn. App. 1985) and State v. James, 638 NW2d 205, (Minn. App. 2002)
Here is a link to a law review article:  http://lawreview.jmls.edu/articles/show/17