Legal Commentary

How Can Twittering Jurors Not be Cause for a Mistrial?

By Jeralyn

Jurors doing research on their iPhones and live-reporting their trials on Twitter are causing big headaches to the judicial system. After 8 weeks of trial in a federal drug trial in Florida, the Judge declared a mistrial.

Last week, a juror in a big federal drug trial in Florida admitted to the judge that he had been doing research on the case on the Internet, directly violating the judge’s instructions and centuries of legal rules. But when the judge questioned the rest of the jury, he got an even bigger shock. Eight other jurors had been doing the same thing.

Sadly, "... the defense lawyer, Peter Raben, ... was told by the jury that he was on the verge of winning the case."

Why is a twittering juror any different? [More...]

[O]n Monday, defense lawyers in the federal corruption trial of a former Pennsylvania state senator, Vincent J. Fumo, demanded that the judge declare a mistrial after a juror posted updates on the case on Twitter and Facebook. The juror even told his readers that a “big announcement” was coming Monday.

But the judge decided to let the trial continue, and the jury found Mr. Fumo guilty. His lawyers plan to use the Internet postings as grounds for appeal.

The problem:

Jurors are not supposed to seek information outside of the courtroom. They are required to reach a verdict based only on the facts that the judge has decided are admissible, and they are not supposed to see evidence that has been excluded as prejudicial. But now, using their cellphones, they can look up the name of a defendant on the Web, or examine an intersection using Google Maps, violating the legal system’s complex rules of evidence. They can also tell their friends what is happening in the jury room, though they are supposed to keep their opinions and deliberations secret.

The solution seems easy enough -- require jurors to park their cell phones with the Marshals when entering the courthouse.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).