This is the second incident of juror misconduct in the Young Thug RICO trial in a Georgia court. In January a juror failed to return when recalled to jury duty. Instead she went on vacation to the Dominican Republic. The judge ordered her to write a 30-page paper with 10 sources on the importance of jury duty.
The second incident occurred on 3-17-23. A Youtube video from 4-3-23 shows the judge examining the juror who allegedly live-streamed jury selection. She denied hearing all of the judge's 10-minute admonitions about social media comments about jury duty, conducting research, etc. She stated she took the video but deleted it (no live-streaming) when the person sitting next to her told her she could not record the proceedings. Court staff took the phone (no search warrant) and found the video in her deleted items. The judge sentenced her to 3 days in jail.
I have several concerns:
1. It appears the juror accused of misconduct appears without counsel.
2. There is no indication she was given a Miranda warning.
3. The judge, in chastising the juror, used several words uncommon to most people: ad nauseam (Latin?), litany, iteration, brazen, arduous.
4. She is sentenced to 3 days in jail without an opportunity of allocution, that is, allowed to comment on what punishment if any is appropriate and explain her circumstances.
As I have stated elsewhere, I suggest that a judge, who may be a witness to misconduct, should refer the matter to law enforcement for investigation and possible criminal charges, including criminal contempt.
No comments:
Post a Comment