Juror Does Internet Research During Deliberations, Replaced With Alternate; Conviction Reversed

During deliberations a juror (A) conducted Internet research on the background of the defendant and switched their vote, but did not share the research with the other jurors.    This juror (A) was also found to have been threatened with a punch to the nose by another juror over this misconduct.  As allowed in NJ, Juror A was replaced with an alternate and deliberations ordered to begin anew.   Appellate court questioned this as the jury had already reached a verdict on one of the counts charged.  Conviction was reversed by the appellate court.
New Jersey v. Lloyd and Cade, published 7-18-14.

Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Considers Claim of Juror Bias

The Sixth Circuit overturned a federal district court order denying a habeus corpus peition by a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death and sent the case back to the federal district court to conisder whether to stay and abey the petition while the defendant seeks state court relief.  Cunningham v. Warden filed 6-24-14.  It was discovered that the jury foreperson was acquainted with the families of the victims and considered them to be her clients and that she ultimately would have to face them in the community.  A "holdout" juror testified in a deposition that she felt pressured by this comment.  The lower court judge concluded that she was not presured to convict.

Most of the decision is about criminal procedure in federal court in this type of matter.