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.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Deja Vu: Facebooking Jurors Cause a Reversal of a Murder Conviction
This time it's in Iowa. A murder conviction was reversed by the appellate court due to prejudice to the defendant from contacts on Facebook some of the jurors had both before and during deliberations. Pre-deliberations one juror discovered that one of the defendant's relatives was her Facebook friend. During deliberations a juror shared that on Facebook there were posts about rumors that there would be a riot or violence if the defendant was not found guilty of something.
LINK: https://cdn.radioiowa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Christensen-opinion-PDF.pdf
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
Once again, a juror is sentenced to jail, though a suspended sentence, for violating the judge's instructions by doing Internet research.
Link:
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/16164599.Juror_avoids_jail_after_internet_research_of_case_forces_retrial/
Link:
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/16164599.Juror_avoids_jail_after_internet_research_of_case_forces_retrial/
Monday, April 16, 2018
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)