Is it realistic for the court to expect jurors to comply with the instructions about not discussing the case on social media or conduct Internet research? One can certainly wonder. It has recently been reported that participants in the January 6 Capitol insurrection are attempting to profit from their notoriety through media deals. The Justice Dept. could seek "claw back" of any money received by participants for book deals, sale of video footage from the riot, etc., as criminally-convicted defendants cannot profit from their crimes. (AP News, 8-14-22). It's not a stretch to assume that in a highly-reported trial a juror would be untruthful in jury selection questioning as they want to be on the jury so as to profit from their service after reaching a verdict. After the verdict is read and accepted by the judge the juror is released from their oath of confidentiality. One need only harken back to sensational trials of the past few years to recall jurors appearing live on morning talk shows about their jury service within a few days of the verdict. If you want to view a worst case scenario from tv, just Google "Monk", season 4, episode 16.
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