As Jury Trials Resumed as Covid Abated, Jury Misconduct Continued In Familiar Ways in Some High-profile Cases

During the approximately 18 months that many jurisdictions paused from conducting jury trials there was nothing to report here. Since jury trials have begun, there have been several high-profile cases in which juror misconduct has been alleged and even proven. So over the next several weeks I will be catching up. The Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking criminal case drew worldwide attention after the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein. In January 2022 shortly after she was convicted, federal prosecutors (exercising their duty to do justice) reported to the presiding judge that they had information that Juror #50 had failed to disclose on his juror questionaire that he had been the victim of child sexual abuse. He had disclosed this to the jury during deliberations and when the topic of the memory of victims was being discussed. Motion for new trial was made by the defense. The court conducted a hearing (Schwartz hering in MN) in which the only inquiry was of Juror #50 and what he had told his fellow jurors and why did he fail to report it on the questionare. He testified that he went through the questions quickly and his failure was inadvertent. It was reported on 4-1-22 that the trial judge denied the motions for mistrial and for new trial. My only comment is that I found voir dire to be the time during trial causing the most anxiety as the judge and lawyers can never anticipate what a prospective juror will say (or fail to disclose) or do during voir dire and prior to selection of the jury. 

 In a Virginia case, Appian Corp. v. Pegasystems, the jury awarded Plaintiff a $2 billion verdict in the corporate secrets case. The defense filed a motion for the court to investigate alleged juror misconduct of Internet research about the case and a news article over a weekend, the reporting it to the jury. The immense veridct followed thereafter. The trial judge denied the defense motion. I expect an appeal of that denial is likely with all other appealable issues. There have been several cases over the years where trial judges have failed to investigate alleged juror misconduct and that denial was found to be error by the 

appellate court and the case remanded for investigation of the misconduct.

 On 7-8-22 former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld was convicted of bribery and attempted extortion in federal court. His defense attorneys have moved the court for access to cunduct a forensic examination of a juror who allegedly was posting on Facebook about her jury experience during the trial and the night before the verdict. The posts including comments about not liking other seated jurors, including one who talked too much and one who hates people in the occupation of the defendant. Court staff found the Facebook posts during the trial and reported them to the attorneys. On 7-29-22 the court heard the arguments about a forensic examination of the juror's phone, a highly unusual request. Prosecutors argued there is no evidence that the juror was doing anything other than discussing her jury experiences in the trial. I will follow up when the judge makes a decision.