JURORS BEHAVING BADLY

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.

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Oklahoma Judge Accused of Texting and Searching Social Media During Murder Trial

I may need to change the title of this blog to jurors AND JUDGES behaving badly:

https://nypost.com/2023/07/27/oklahoma-judge-traci-soderstrom-accused-of-using-phone-during-murder-trial/#

Monday, July 17, 2023

Georgia Trial Jury Selection Hits Four Month Mark As AWOL Juror Hears Consequence

As an update to May 15 post, the RICO trial of gang members continues to have issues with potential jurors behaving badly. Jury selection has gone on for 4 months, possibly a record for Georgia. Most recently a juror who failed to show for jury duty and went to work instead was ordered to observe the trial for 5 days WHENEVER it starts, which could be a while. This was in lieu of 20 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Jury selection is expected to continue through the summer. YouTube has videos of the interaction between the judge and the juror.